After Telangana teenager Prashi Joshi knocked out top seed Riya Pillai in the women’s singles on Saturday, it was the turn of top seeds of other four disciplines – men’s singles (Harshit Aggarwal), men’s doubles (K Chaitanya Reddy-T Hemanagendra Babu), women’s doubles (Kuhoo Garg-Ningshi Block Hazarika) and mixed doubles (Vighnesh Devlekar-V Harika) – to crash out of the tournament.
The seedings were given to these players on the basis of their Badminton Association of India (BAI) rankings. Country’s top players including Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal will play directly from pre-quarterfinal onwards, which will get underway on Monday.
Aryamann Tandon of Air India shocked Karnataka’s Aggarwal 21-18, 21-14 in the men’s singles third round without breaking much of a sweat. The young pair of M Tanishq and Sonika Sai made light work of top seeds Kuhoo Garg and Ningshi Block Hazarika in the women’s doubles.
Former national champions Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas of Kerala taught a lesson or two to men’s doubles top seeds Chaitanya Reddy and Hemanagendra Babu with a facile 21-15, 21-12 win.
Similarly, another experienced Kerala pair of Alwin Francis and Aparna Balan showed the exit doors to top seeds Vighnesh Devlekar and V Harika 21-19, 21-6 in the mixed doubles second round outing.
It was a memorable day for Malvika Bansod. The Nagpur shuttler notched up two brilliant victories over fancied rivals to reach the last 16, the youngest to do so. The 16-year-old Malvika thrashed A Abhilasha 21-14, 21-8 in just 21 minutes before she edged out Ashmita Chaliha 21-16, 16-21, 21-18 later in the day to advance.
“It was certainly a memorable day for me. I won two crucial matches today against higher-ranked players. In between, I was honoured by Prakash Padukone Sir as the best junior player of the city. I hope to continue my good form,” said Malvika, who recently represented the country in the BWF Junior World Championship in Indonesia.
Joining Malvika in the next round were G Ruthvika Shivani, G Vrushali, Revati Devasthale, M Tanishq, Aakarshi Kashyap and Saili Rane. In an exciting encounter, Pune’s Purva Barve squeezed past local girl Ritika Thaker 21-13, 19-21, 22-20 in 47 minutes.
In the women’s doubles, Mrunmayi Saoji (Nagpur) and Manasi Gadgil (Pune) quelled the spirited challenge from M Tanishq and Sonika Sai 21-8, 21-23, 21-16 to enter pre-quareters.
Rasika Raje will be seen in action on Monday when the city southpaw will face her practice partner G Ruthvika Shivani for a spot in the quarterfinal.
Meanwhile, badminton legend Prakash Padukone was felicitated by the Maharashtra Badminton Association (MBA) president Arun Lakhani at the venue on Sunday afternoon.
RESULTS (Round of 32)
Women’s singles: M Tanishq bt Kanika Kanwal 21-19, 21-19; 11-Revati Devasthale bt 5-Riya Mookerjee 21-19, 20-22, 21-18; G Ruthvika Shivani bt Mansi Singh 21-8, 21-11; Purva Barve bt Ritika Thaker 21-13, 19-21, 22-20; 13-Aakarshi Kashyap bt 8-Vaidehi Choudhari 17-21, 21-16, 21-16; G Vrushali bt Treesa Jolly 21-16, 21-13; Saili Rane bt 9-Vaishnavi Bhale 21-16, 21-10; Malvika Bansod bt Ashmita Chaliha 21-16, 16-21, 21-18.
Men’s singles: Aryamann Tandon bt 11-Siddharath Thakur 21-10, 21-13; 7-Lakshya Sen bt Maisnam Meiraba 21-13, 12-21, 21-13; 3-Bodhit Joshi bt Kaustubh Rawat 21-7, 21-18; 9-Chirag Sen bt Adrian George 21-14, 21-11; 15-BM Rahul Bhardhvaj bt 5-C Rohit Yadav 21-13, 21-10; 4-Ansal Yadav bt 14-M Mithun 16-21, 21-8, 21-13; Subhankar Dey bt 6-Abhishek Yeligar 21-19, 21-16; 2-C Rahul Yadav bt Kartik Jindal 21-12, 21-13.
Women’s doubles: Manasi Gadgil-Mrunmayi Saoji bt M Tanishq-P Sonika Sai 21-8, 21-23, 21-16; Rutaparna Panda-UK Mithula bt 8-Vaishnavi Bhale-Riya Pillai 21-12, 21-9; 6-Sanyogita Ghorpade-Prajakta Sawant bt Khushboo Patel-Kirti Prasad 15-21 21-5, 21-14; 2-MH Haritha-Anura Prabhudesai bt Somibala Devi-Purnima Devi 21-12, 15-21, 21-17.
Men’s doubles: Gaurav Deswal-Kaustubh Rawat bt 3-Vighnesh Devlekar-Kabir Kanzarkar 15-21, 21-18, 23-21; Chetan Anand-V Diju bt 8-G Kiran Kumar-Vasantha Kumar 21-7, 21-19; 7-Alwin Francis-K Nanda Gopal bt Vishnuvardhan Goud-Sri Krishna Podile 21-6, 21-15.
Mixed doubles: Alwin Francis-Aparna Balan bt K Nanda Gopal-Mahima Aggarwal 21-9, 21-18; 4-Sanyam Shukla-Sanyogita Ghorpade bt Sameer Bhagwat-Manasi Gadgil 21-13, 21-7; Manu Attri-K Maneesha bt B Sumeeth Reddy-Arathi Sara Sunil 17-21, 21-19, 21-11; 8-Akshay Raut-Dhanya Nair bt G Krishna Prasad-UK Mithula 21-17, 21-18.
Indian Badminton Stars In Action On Monday
Men’s singles: 2-HS Prannoy vs Chirag Sen (around 12 noon, court No. 4);
4-Ajay Jayaram vs Rahul Bhardhvaj (around 1 pm, court No. 3)
1-K Srikanth vs Aryaman Tandon (around 2 pm, court No. 4).
3-B Sai Praneeth vs C Rahul Yadav (around 2.30 pm, court No. 5)
5-P Kashyap vs Ansal Yadav (around 2.30 pm, court No. 6)
Women’s singles: 2-Saina Nehwal vs G Vrushali (around 1 pm, court No. 4);
1-PV Sindhu vs Revati Devasthale (around 2.30 pm, court No. 4)
Source : timesofindia
