Continuing her good run of form, young Indian shuttler Malvika Bansod got the better of compatriot and junior world No. 1 Tasnim Mir in straight games to advance to the quarterfinals of the Odisha Open in Cuttack on Thursday.

Bansod took just over half an hour to defeat 16-year-old Tasnim 21-13 21-15 in the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals of the BWF Super 100 tournament.

The 20-year-old Bansod, who had lost to PV Sindhu in the final of the Syed Modi International last week after defeating her idol Saina Nehwal at the India Open earlier this month, will take on Tanya Hemanth.

Fifth seed Ashmita Chaliha also booked a quarterfinal spot as she got the of another 16-year-old in Anupama Upadhyaya 21-17 21-16. She will now take on Rucha Sawant, who defeated Nikki Rapria to reach the final eight.

In men’s singles, third seed Subhankar Dey, who had stunned sixth seed Xiaodong Sheng of Canada on Wednesday, notched a 21-16 21-14 victory over fellow Indian Rahul Yadav Chittaboina in 33 minutes.

Mithun Manjunath too registered an impressive win against Cheam June Wei of Malaysia, defeating the 7th seed 21-11 21-18 in 40 minutes.

Manjunath will take on highly rated Priyanshu Rajwat next. The youngster defeated Sathish Kumar Karunakaran 21-13 21-12 in 30 minutes.

Kiran George also moved to the men’s singles quarterfinal with an easy 21-12 21-13 win over compatriot Chirag Sen in another second round match.

In the mixed doubles event, the India pairing of Dhruv Rawat and Shikha Gautam lost 11-21 14-21 to the Sri Lankan duo of Sachin Dias and Thilini Hendahewa in the second round, while Ayush Makhija and Deeksha Choudhar handed Chirag Arora and Nish Rapria a 21-5 21-16 loss to move to the quarterfinals.

All results from Thursday here.

BAI statement on Wednesday:

In the wake of the high number of Covid positive cases at the ongoing Odisha Open Super 100 tournament, the Badminton Association of India has clarified that the tests are being conducted according to the protocols set by the Badminton World Federation through a designated lab and there was no reason to question the authenticity of the reports.

The lab which is conducting the tests for participants in the Odisha Open is an ICMR Lab run directly by the Government of India and boasts of the highest level of precision in its protocols.

“This is the third and last tournament of the India Leg and as per BWF protocol, the host country designated the lab and in this case ICMR lab was appointed which is the country’s best. As per protocol, BWF upholds the findings of this lab only. Similar process was followed at the India Open and Syed Modi International and no exception was made at the Odisha Open as well,” BAI Secretary Ajay K Singhania said in a statement on Wednesday.

(With PTI inputs)