Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2018: Lakshya Sen, Kiran George enter third round

Sixth seeded Lakshya Sen made a winning start to his individual campaign at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2018 to enter the third round at Jakarta, Indonesia on Wednesday. Joining him in the same round were the 16th seeded Kiran George and the unseeded Priyanshu Rajawat.

In a late match, Sen needed just 30 minutes to prevail over Korea’s Hyeong Jung Kim 21-13, 21-11 and set up a meeting with Japan’s Riku Hatano.

George had to work harder to notch up a 24-22, 21-16 win over Malaysia’s Chong King Lim in 40 minutes. Rajawat was in top form as he pummelled Sri Lanka’s Vikum Fernando 21-8, 21-4.

The girls too fared well in the women’s singles section as three of them made it to the second round. Medha Shashidharan defeated Iya Gordeyeva 21-9, 21-10 while Kavipriya Selvam was equally impressive in her 21-5, 21-8 rout of Seng Jar Nan.

Dipty Kuity emerged a 21-18, 21-13 winner over Aisha Zhumbaek to set up a second round showdown with the sixth seed Hsieh Yu Ying. The Indian girls joined compatriot and seventh seed Aakarshi Kashyap, who has got a first round bye and is yet to begin her campaign.

In men’s doubles, the Indian pair of Manjit Singh and Dingku Singh overcame a tough opposition in the Indonesian pair of Muhammad C. Chaniago and Helmi Abu Hanifa to register a 22-20, 23-21 win in 34 minutes.

The Indian challenge came to an abrupt end in mixed doubles with three pairs crashing out on Day 1. Srikrishna Sai Kumar Podile and Srishti Jupudi tasted defeat in a hard-fought first round match. The Indians went down fighting 21-17, 13-21, 15-21 to the Indonesian combine of Muhammad Juan Elgiffani and Windi Siti Mulyani.

Orijit Chaliha and Preethi Konadam too could not make it past the first round while Edwin Joy and Nafeesah Sara Siraj exited the tournament in the second round.