Qualifiers Rahul, Chahal upset seeds in first round of All India senior ranking meet

Qualifiers C Rahul Yadav and Ketan Chahal upset the applecart of fourth seed Shreyansh Jaiswal and ninth seed B Chetan Anand in the men’s singles first round to bring the V V Natu Memorial Amanora All India Badminton Senior Ranking tournament to life at the WIE Complex here on Friday.

The tournament is being organised by Poona District & Metropolitan Badminton Association under the auspices of Maharashtra Badminton Association and the Badminton Association of India.

In the women’s singles event, Maharashtra’s Karishma Wadkar upset 16th seed G M Nischitha, while seventh seed Saili Rane was given marching orders by former national champion Aditi Mutatkar, who had to come through qualifying because she had been out of action for over five months due to injury.

However, the stars of the day were undoubtedly Rahul and Chahal, who showed no nerves while taking on much higher ranked players.

Sixteen-year-old Rahul, who trains at the Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, staved off pressure on the closing stages of both games to get the better of Jaiswal 22-20, 21-19. He will now face H S Prannoy in the second round.

In the other first round game, Chahal stunned multiple time national champion Chetan 21-14. 16-21, 21-16 in 50 minutes. Chahal showed that he had a lot more in the tank in the decider to get the better of a player who was once ranked among the top-20 in the world.

Chahal will now face Delhi’s Mayank Behal in the second round.

Maharashtra shuttlers have a good outing

Qualifiers Wadkar and Shlok Ramchandran led the charge of the hosts in the first round and came out triumphant against their senior challengers.

Sixteen-year-old Wadkar, who trains at the Shuttlecraze Badminton Academy in Mumbai, showed that age was no barrier as she not only matched Nischitha in the rallies but could even step on the accelerator when needed to win 21-12, 18-21, 21-8 in just 31 minutes.

In the men’s singles, Shlok hammered Nikhilesh Sharma 21-6, 21-7 to advance.

Asia U-19 championship: Ruthvika in girls singles quarters

National junior champion Ruthvika Shivani rallied from a game down to overcome Chinese Xinyuan Wang 18-21, 21-18, 21-16 to reach the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Youth (U-19) championship in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, on Friday.

The Gopichand Badminton Academy trainee will now take on top seed and world number 17 Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand for a berth in the semifinals.

However, Indian challenge in the boys singles came to an end at the pre-quarters when both junior national champion Harsheel Dani and sub junior national champion Aditya Joshi were sent packing in straight games.

Dani went down to Indonesia’s Mustofa Ihsan Maulana 21-17, 21-13 while Joshi lost 21-16, 21-12 against Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei.

Results (pre-quarterfinals):

Girls singles: 6-Ruthvika Shivani bt Xinyuan Wang (Chn) 18-21, 21-18, 21-16

Boys singles: 6-Harsheel Dani lost to Mustofa Ihsan Maulana (Ina) 17-21, 13-21; 15-Aditya Joshi lost to 7-Tzu Wei Wang (Tpe) 16-21, 12-21

Asia U-19 championship: Dani saves match point to advance

Junior national champion Harsheel Dani saved a match point before getting the better of Vietnam’s Cao Cuong Pham 18-21, 23-21, 21-16 in an hour and two minutes to reach the fourth round of the Badminton Asia Youth (U-19) championship in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, on Thursday.

The Air India shuttler will now face 14^th seed Mustofa Ihsan Maulana of Indonesia, who got the better of China’s Zheng Siwei 16-21, 21-14, 24-22 in the third round.

Also advancing were sub junior national champion Aditya Joshi and junior girls champion G Ruthvika Shivani. Joshi defeated Zin Rei Ryan Ng of Singapore 21-15, 21-17, while Ruthvika got the better of Jia Min Yeo 10-21, 21-14, 21-12.

Joshi will now take on seventh seed Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei for a berth in the quarterfinals while Ruthvika meets China’s Xinyuan Wang in the pre-quarterfinals.

Results:

Boys singles (third round): 6-Harsheel Dani bt Cao Cuong Pham (Vie) 18-21, 23-21, 21-16; 15-Aditya Joshi bt Zin Rei Ryan Ng (Sin) 21-15, 21-17; Arun George lost to 4-Heo Kwang Hee (Kor) 15-21, 13-21

Girls singles (second round): 6-Ruthvika Shivani bt Jia Min Yeo (Sin) 10-21, 21-14, 21-12; Reshma Karthik lost to Lee Ying Ying (Mas) 15-21, 21-18, 19-21; Shreyanshi Pardeshi lost to 7-Sarita Suwannakitborihan (Tha) 11-21, 11-21.

Mixed doubles (second round): Santosh Ravuri/Poorvisha S Ram lost to Rafiddias Nugroho/Setyana Mapasa (Ina) 12-21, 15-21; Shlok Ramchandran/Riya Mukherjee lost to Zi Jian Tan/Jing Feng Seah (Sin) 10-21, 18-21; Vinay Kumar Singh/Kuhoo Garg lost to Zin Rei Ryan Ng/Jia Min Yeo (Sin) 15-21, 23-25; Sanyam Shukla/J Meghana lost to Sutichon Pol Gul/Lam Narissapat (Tha) 16-21, 18-21.

Asia U-19 championship: Reshma, Ruthvika, Dani make a winning start

Bangalore girl Reshma Karthik made a promising start to her Badminton Asia Youth (U-19) championship on Wednesday when she got the better of the experienced Sapniti Alisa of Thailand 21-13, 11-21, 21-19 in the first round of the girl’s singles event in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

Reshma, who is playing her first Asian championship, did not show any nerves as she overcame the world number 151 in 48 minutes to set up a second round clash against Lee Ying Ying of Malaysia.

The other members of the Indian contingent also made a positive start to their campaign with junior national champions Harsheel Dani and Ruthvika Shivani registering comfortable victories.

While sixth seed Dani got the better of U Leong IEK of Macau 21-14, 21-11 in the boy’s singles second round, Ruthvika hammered Sok Man Wong of Macau 21-9, 21-14 in the girl’s singles first round.

Shubhankar Dey wins Kenya international singles title

India’s Subhankar Dey halted the giant killing run of Nigeria’s Gideon Babalola 21-19, 21-19 to lift the Kenya International badminton championship in Nairobi on Sunday.

The 20-year-old, who now trains at Tom John’s badminton academy in Bangalore, had gone to Kenya with an aim to earn valuable ranking points and would be happy to claim the title in a tournament that saw some of the lesser known players stretching him in the earlier rounds.

Dey will earn 1700 ranking points for his effort and should help him close in on his target to break into top 100 in the next few months.