Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
Maisnam Meiraba led the Indian charge as Satish Karunakaran, Pranav Rao Gandham and Rohan Gurbani chalked out superb victories on the first day of the 21st edition of BWF World Junior Championships in Kazan, Russia on Monday.
Maisnam Meiraba Luwang seeded seventh here, breezed past his opponent, Romania’s Teodor Cioroboiu 21-4, 21-3. Satish put it across his Ugandan opponent Samuel Wasswa 21-6, 21-5.
The Junior World number 10, Manipuri, after receiving a first-round bye, started attacking from the word go and took less than15-minutes to wrap up the game to move to the round of 64 at the Championships.
Besides him, Tamil Nadu’s Satish Karunakaran and Telangana’s Pranav Rao Gandham also played with immense authority to oust their respective opponents.
Pranav Rao Gandham crushed Armenia’s Arman Vardanyan 21-10, 21-6 in his first-round match. Both the shuttlers were equally destructive and took a little over 15-minutes to finish their respective matches and move to the final 64.
In the last boys’ singles of the day for India, Nagpur’s Rohan Gurbani who is also reigning U-17 boys singles national champion outclassed his opponent with a great offensive shot selection in a short 16 minutes game.
Celebrating his birthday, Rohan trounced Latvia’s Alens Zandovskis 21-6, 21-3.
At the previous edition, Lakshya Sen had brought bronze medal and till date Saina Nehwal remains India’s only gold medalist in the World Junior Championships.