Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
It was a day of mixed fortune for India as both the boy’s and girl’s doubles teams qualified for the quarter-finals while Malvika Bansod and Maisnam Meiraba’s journey came to an end in the third round in the Badminton Asia Junior Championships (Individual Event) at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre in Suzhou, China on Thursday..
In boys’ doubles, Ishaan Bhatnagar and Vishnu Vardhan Goud Panjala defeated the 4th seeded Thai pair Thanawin Madee and Ratchapol 21-14, 24-26, 21-16.
The duo had annihilated Bangladesh’s Md. Abdul Hamid Lukman and Gourab Singha 21-10, 21-15 earlier in the day.
In girls’ doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Aditi Bhatt sealed a quarter berth by getting the better of Malaysian doubles duo, Gan Jing Err and Zhing Yi Tan 21-15, 21-12.
Earlier in the day, they had beaten Chinese Taipei’s Jiang Pin-Yue and Ting Ya-Yun 21-12, 21-18.
Malvika Bansod, ranked 83rd in the world junior rankings, faced the World No. 1 junior player Phittayaporn Chaiwan, That did not deter the young Indian who held her nerves to pull off a stunning 21-18, 21-19 second round win over the Thai in 38 minutes.
Malvika, however, failed to repeat the heroics in her next match that was in a few hours and went down 14-21, 8-21 to China’s Tan Ning.
The result would still act as a source of inspiration for the youngster and would instill belief in her as she goes on to pursue excellence in her career.
In boys’ singles, Maisnam Meiraba also had to bite the dust in the second round after being the best-performing Indian over the last few days at this tournament. The junior World No. 14 began on a thunderous note, snatching the first game from two-time world junior champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn only to see the Thai storming back for an 18-21, 21-15, 21-8 win in 55 minutes.
Unnati Bisht was another Indian to reach the third round in girls’ singles following a quickfire 21-6, 21-10 victory over Hong Kong’s NG Tin Yan. The Uttarakhand girl’s campaign, however, was cut short 21-8, 21-13 in that round by the fifth seed Benyapa Aimsaard of Thailand.
Aashi Rawat also succumbed to a 10-21, 14-21 defeat at the hands of the second seed Zhou Meng while Aditi Bhatt lost 13-21, 15-21 to fourth seed Han Qian Xi. With the four girls getting ousted, India’s title hopes came to an end in girls’ singles.
In boys’ singles, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran was the only one to enter the third round, courtesy of his 21-11, 21-7 win over Sumiyasuren Enkhbat of Mongolia but failed to advance further, losing to sixth seed Hyeon Seung Park of South Korea 12-21, 21-10, 21-7. Siddhanth Gupta and Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian both crashed out.
The pairs of Ravikrishna-Manav Raj Sumith and Manjit Singh Khwairakpam-Dingku Singh Konthoujam had to bow out in the quarters, losing to 3rd seeds Dan En Yi-Feng Yan Zhe 21-9, 21-12 and 7th seeds Dong Ju Ki-Joon Young Kim 21-10, 17-21, 21-10 respectively.