The Indian contingent finished with a haul of two medals at the 2017 Yonex Dutch Junior Open in Haarlem, Netherlands that got over on Sunday. The top-seeded men’s doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Dhruv Kapila had to settle for the silver while the top-ranked junior Lakshya Sen clinched a bronze in men’s singles.
Garaga and Kapila put up a great fight in the second game but went down to the unseeded Chinese Taipei duo of Su Li Wei and Ye Hong Wei, 13-21, 19-21 in 29 minutes.
Perhaps the loss had more to do with the fact that the Indian combine had to battle hard in their semi-final match earlier in the day and did not have enough energy left for the final. Garaga and Kapila needed 46 minutes to outlast the third seeds Eloi Adam and Samy Corvee of France, 21-17, 12-21, 21-16.
Lakshya Sen bows out in semis
Meanwhile, 15-year-old Lakshya Sen’s brilliant run came to an end in the semi-finals of men’s singles. The top seed did not lose a game en route to the last-four stage but succumbed to a 19-21, 15-21 defeat to the 12th seed Chen Chi Ting, who went on to win the title.
The Almora-born youngster had been in impressive form for the last few weeks and rose to the pinnacle of the junior world rankings last month. Even in the senior circuit, he has made his mark.
At the Indian Badminton Nationals in February, the talented teen was on an upset-making spree and reached the final where he lost to Sourabh Verma.
In women’s singles of the Dutch Open, the 16th seeded Ira Sharma crashed out in the quarter-finals. Sharma had prevailed over compatriot Prashi Joshi in an all-Indian pre-quarter-final clash.
In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Mithila UK lost in the fourth round while Krishna Prasad Garaga and Ritika Thaker’s run ended in the second round.
Next up: German Open
The Dutch Open was a Junior International Grand Prix event. The next tournament of this category is the German Open at Berlin scheduled from 9-12 March where the Indian shuttlers will be seen in action.
