NAVELIM: Top seed Pranav Rao Gandham and fifth-seed Ayush Shetty in boys singles; sixth-seed Unnati Hooda and fourth-seed Anupama Upadhyaya in girls category, advanced to the quarter-finals of Yonex Sunrise All India Ranking Badminton 2022 Goa, here at the Manohar Parrikar indoor stadium in South Goa, on Tuesday.
It was a tough ride for Pranav Rao Gandham from Telangana against ninth-seed Lakshay Sharma, who matched his higher-rated rival through the high-voltage duel of over an hour. While Pranav lost the first game 17-21, he roared back with 21-12 success to level the tie and set up a mouth-watering decider. Unfortunately, the pre-quarters ended prematurely as the severely cramping Lakshay of Punjab could not continue in the third game when Pranav was leading 11-7.
In another eye-catching Round 3 encounter, the tall youngster Ayush Shetty overcame a stiff challenge from Nicholas Nathan Raj 21-9, 14-21, 21-12 in 41 minutes.
Over in the girls singles event, one of the favourites Unnati Hooda tamed Maharashtra’s Aalisha Naik with a comfortable 21-13, 21-16 in 26 minutes.
The other big name in the competition Anupama Upadhyaya had to battle for 40 minutes to knock UP’s Samayara Panwar out with a 21-10, 24-22 victory. Earlier in the day, Anupama had to work hard as Tara Shah gave her a real scare before retiring. Anupama prevailed 12-21, 22-20, 13-5.
Elsewhere – Gargi, Anmol Kharb and Tanoo Chandra booked their places in the last-8 stage, having come into the Main Draw from the Qualifying Tournament. Gargi, who defeated 13th seed Hiral Chouhan 21-17 21-14, will clash with Hooda in the quarters. Anmol beat Karnika Sree S. 23-21 21-12; while Tanoo Chandra downed Ananya Gadgi 21-11 21-10.
The 14-year-old Unnati, who is the youngest Indian to win a Super 100 tournament, however could not continue her march in the doubles event. The Unnati-Palak Arora duo suffered an unexpected 10-21 21-19 21-19 loss by unseeded Tamil Nadu partnership of Kanishka G. and Dhanyaa N, at the fag end of the day.
Meanwhile the hosts’ challenge came to an end in all the events today. Having aroused expectations after his stunning marathon victory yesterday, Nishant Shenai failed to hit the same level in the second round and suffered a 9-21, 17-21 loss to Samarveer.
Goa’s Yash Halarnkar and Aryaman Saraf suffered a 14-21, 10-21 defeat to TN’s Karthick Raja B-Parth Vaid P, in the boys doubles while Synnovia Isabel D’Souza-Pratishtha Shenoy lost to Harshitaa Rout Sruti Swain 7-21, 10-21.
