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Rising shuttlers Aakarshi Kashyap and Riya Mukherjee gave a demonstration of their talent and fighting skills by ousting the top two seeds in the qualifying rounds of the the $350, 000 Dr. Akhilesh Das Gupta India Open 2018 at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The 17-year-old Kashyap, who is currently ranked 241st, dropped a game but managed to regroup to register a 21-17, 18-21, 21-15 win over the top seeded Vrushali Gummadi in 55 minutes. She will face fellow Indian Anura Prabhudesai in the first round of the main draw.
19-year-old Riya Mukherjee, who reached the final of the Tata Open, continued her heroics as she accounted for the second seeded Ira Sharma. More than a month after halting Sharma’s giant-killing run at the Tata Open, she beat her again at the India Open qualifying.
While the last time it took her three gruelling games to post the win, this time she had a much easier time on the court and won 21-11, 21-15. She takes on the eighth seed Beatriz Corrales in the first round.
Siddharth Pratap Singh loses narrowly
On the men’s side, Siddharth Pratap Singh went down in a tight battle to Malaysia’s Iskandar Zulkarnain. Singh won the Swedish Open a week back and carried that form into the first round of qualifying where he stunned the fourth seed Joo Ven Soong 16-21, 21-15, 21-14.
In the final round of qualifying, he showed a lot of grit before going down 21-18, 7-21, 20-22 in 1 hour.
Shreyansh Jaiswal entered the main draw with a 21-10, 22-20 win over Abhishek Yelegar. Kartikey Gulshan Kumar edged Iceland International runner-up Bodhit Joshi 21-19, 15-21, 21-18 to become the second Indian men’s singles player to make it through to the main draw.
Malaysia’s Daren Liew ended the run of Rahul Yadav Chittaboina 14-21, 21-11, 21-19 to join Zulkarnain, Jaiswal and Kumar in the main draw.
In men’s doubles and mixed doubles, all the four teams who entered the main draw are Indian pairs. In women’s doubles, two Indian teams, including the second seeded combine of Mithula UK and Rutaparna Panda, booked main draw berths.
Panda and Mithula had to stave off a mighty challenge from Indonesians Suci Rizky Andini and Maretha Dea Giovani for an 18-21, 21-8, 21-9 win.
