HSB / Pune
Second seed Meiraba Luwang remained unstoppable, and in-form mixed doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ishaan Bhatnagar upset the top seeds as well as the fourth seeds to enter the final of the Yonex Sunrise India Junior International Grand Prix , at the P E Society’s Modern PDMBA Sports Complex, here Saturday.
Continuing from where they had left at the All India Junior Ranking Tournaments in Panchkula and Bangalore over the last couple of weeks, where they emerged victorious, the Goa-Chattisgarh combine of Crasto and Bhatnagar simply continued to dazzle. In a hard-fought and gritty quarter-final that lasted 1 hour 4 minutes, the Indians dug deep to show the door to the top seeds Sirawit Sothon and Pornnicha Suwatnodom 23-21, 20-22, 21-16.
Crasto and Bhatnagar then fought for another three games to knock out the Japanese fourth seeds Tsubasa Kawamura and Hinata Suzuki 18-21, 21-16, 21-13 in 44 minutes. In the final, they will take on the Thai second seeds Benyapa Aimsaard and Ratchapol Makkasasithorn.
The Russian Junior White Nights champion Meiraba Luwang of Manipur was hardly troubled on his way to the final in boys’ singles. The Junior World No. 15 first dismissed Malaysian qualifier Justin Hoh Shou Wei 21-16, 21-12 and then followed it up with a 21-19, 21-12 defeat of the third seed Kok Jing Hong. Meiraba will meet the winner of the semi-final between Japanese Shotaru Inamitsu and Malaysian qualifier Ken Yon Ong.
In girls’ singles, eighth seeded Treesa Jolly’s campaign was cut short in the quarter-finals by second seed Riko Gunji 21-11, 21-13 while qualifier Meghana Reddy Mareddy also lost 18-21, 13-21 to fourth seed Pornpicha Choeikeewong.
The Kerala girl Treesa, however, teamed up with Varshini Viswanath Sri to enter the semi-finals in girls’ doubles. The second seeds came back from a game down to edge Sahithi Bandi and Drithi Yatheesh 18-21, 21-17, 21-14.
Tanisha Crasto is also in contention in the girls’ doubles section as well. She and Aditi Bhatt, seeded fourth, made short work of Japan’s Riko Gunji and Miyu Takahashi 22-20, 21-15 en route to the last-four stage.
Manipur had double delight on Day 3 of the only Grand Prix event to be played in India as the sixth-seeded duo of Manjit Singh Khwairakpam and Dingku Singh Konthoujam rebounded from the loss of the first game to inflict a 13-21, 21-19, 21-18 loss on the Thai second seeds Tanadon Punpanich and Sirawit Sothon in boys’ doubles quarters.
The top seeds in this section, Thanawin Madee and Ratchapol Makkasasithorn suffered a shock 20-22, 21-17, 20-22 defeat at the hands of unseeded combine of Asghar Herfanda and Rian Canna Varo of Indonesia.
