Malvika Bansod’s journey at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2019 (individual event) came to an end on Thursday in the third round but not before causing a huge upset at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre in China.
Bansod, ranked 83rd in the world junior rankings, faced the world No 1 junior player Phittayaporn Chaiwan, who even holds a ranking of 59 in the senior category. That could not deter the young Indian who held her nerves to pull off a stunning 21-18, 21-19 second round win over the Thai shuttler in 38 minutes.
The Indian, 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.
In boys’ singles, Maisnam Meiraba was also eliminated in the second round after being the best-performing Indian over the last few days at this tournament. The junior world No 14 began well, 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.
In girls’ doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Aditi Bhatt were brilliant in their 21-12, 21-18 win over Chinese Taipei’s Jiang Pin-Yue and Ting Ya-Yun that put them in the pre-quarter-finals.
Earlier, 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 participants 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. Siddhanth Gupta and Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian were both knocked out earlier.
There were some good results for India in doubles. Ishaan Bhatnagar and Vishnu Vardhan Goud Panjala outplayed Bangladesh’s Md. Abdul Hamid Lukman and Gourab Singha 21-10, 21-15. Also advancing to the third round were the pairs of Ravikrishna / Manav Raj Sumith and Manjit Singh Khwairakpam / Dingku Singh Konthoujam.