India’s Tasnim Mir entered the quarter-finals of U-15 women’s singles but Varun Kapur crashed out of U-17 men’s singles at the Asia Badminton Junior Championships in Surabaya on Friday.
Mir has been steadily showing promise for the past few months as validated by her title win at the Dubai Junior International Series in September.
Displaying the same confidence and conviction in her abilities, the youngster needed just 20 minutes to get the better of Malaysia’s Wen Tse Chan 21-6, 21-16. Mir will next face Japan’s Maya Taguchi for a place in the semi-finals.
In U-17 men’s singles, Maharashtra’s Varun Kapur put up a determined effort before going down 19-21 21-23 against Indonesia’s Raynaldi Oktavianur Rizky in a 50-minute battle in a big upset.
There was no such problem for Assam boy Tanmoy Bikash Boruah in U-15. The top seed staved off a tough challenge from 13th seed Denis Farell Satria Pradana in the opening game and then cruised to register a 24-22, 21-15 victory on his way to the last-eight.
There was double delight for Boruah as he teamed up with Lakshay Sharma to win in doubles as well. The top-seeded pair of Boruah and Sharma beat Tanakorn Meecha and Taenkun Tianchan of Thailand 21-18 21-17 to make it to the quarters of U-15 men’s doubles.
Telengana’s Lokesh Reddy Kalagotla and West Bengal’s Ankit Mondal also joined them in the final-eight with a 21-17 22-20 victory over Korea’s Seung Won Baek and Sung Ju Park.
In women’s doubles in the same section, Kerala girls Andrea Sarah Kurien and Pavithra Naveen showed great fighting spirit to complete a 21-18, 17-21, 21-13 win over Hong Kong’s Man Ki Lee and Wing Ka Liang.
However, their challenge later came to an end when Malaysia’s Wei Wen Carmen Ting and Masong Xin Yee beat them narrowly 18-21, 21-15, 23-21. In U-17 women’s doubles, Karnataka combine of Janani Ananthakumar and Tanya Hemanth were also put to a stern test by Japan’s Maki Kanehiro and Yuka Sarukawa. The Indians eventually managed to come through 21-17, 20-22, 21-19 to enter the second round.
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