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Ninth seeded Kartikey Gulshan Kumar kept the Indian Tricolour flying high by entering the pre-quarter-finals in the men’s singles u-19 category at the Yonex Dutch Junior in Haarlem, Netherlands on Friday. Kumar needed three games to prevail over Denmark’s Jonas Jaegar 21-8, 21-23, 21-8 in 32 minutes.
He has a tough task up next as he faces the top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand.
The 18-year-old Indian has been in great form of late and upset the National Championships bronze medallist Subhankar Dey on his way to reaching the second round of the India Open in January. He is India’s biggest hope in the MS U-19 section following the withdrawal of the country’s top junior Lakshya Sen from this prestigious Junior International Grand Prix event.
In U-19 women’s singles, 12th seed Aakarshi Kashyap made short work of Hong Kong’s Yeung Pui Lam to enter the pre-quarter-finals. Kashyap too has a huge challenge in front of her as the top seed Pattarasuda Chaiwan is waiting in the last-eight.
In other matches in this category, Smit Toshniwal bowed out to the seventh seed Reka Madarasz 19-21, 21-23 in a tight second round clash. Eshita Raju was outclassed 21-21, 10-21 by the sixth seeded Vivien Sandorhazi.
11th seed Purva Barve had to work hard against Russia’s Anastasiia Shapovalova. The Pune girl dropped the middle game but managed to regroup for a 21-10, 18-21, 21-13 win in 42 minutes. Up next for Barve is the seventh seeded Madarasz.
Double delight for Garaga
Rising doubles star Krishna Prasad Garaga had double delight on Friday. He and Dhruv Kapila justified their third seeding by securing a 21-13, 21-19 win over France’s Thomas Fourcade and Yanis Gaudin en route to the third round in men’s doubles.
In mixed doubles, the unseeded combine of Garaga and UK Mithula easily beat the Singaporean pair of Han Zhou Toh and Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi 21-18, 21-14. In the last-eight stage, they will take on giant-killers Leo Rolly Carnado and Metya Inayah Cindiani, who stunned the second seeds Daniel Lundgaard and Amalie Magelund of Denmark.
Vishnu Vardhan Goud Panjala and Srikrishna Sai Kumar Podile also made it through to the pre-quarter-finals in men’s doubles with a 21-18, 21-18 win over Taipei’s Chen Shiau Cheng and Su Li Yang.
