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The talented young brigade kept the Indian tricolour flying high at the $65,000 Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Open 2017 with Lakshya Sen and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde both winning their matches in this Grand Prix tournament on Wednesday. The in-form Sen advanced to the third round by upsetting his 15th seeded compatriot, Abhishek Yelegar, 21-17, 21-10. The 16-year-old will next meet qualifier Truong Thanh Long of Vietnam for a place in the quarter-finals.
Sen has been in sizzling form of late and captured the Bulgarian Open International Series last month. The teenager is the only Indian left in the men’s singles draw following the exits of Rahul Yadav Chittaboina, NVS Vijetha, Pratul Joshi and Kartikey Gulshan Kumar.
Chittaboina’s loss, especially, was heartbreaking as the Lagos International winner lost narrowly to the top seed Hsu Jen Hao of Chinese Taipei. Chittaboina fought bravely in the decider only to go down in the end, 21-10, 13-21, 19-21 in a 56-minute battle.
Joshi bowed out to the 16th seeded Panji Ahmad Maulana 14-21, 19-21 while Gulshan Kumar fell 15-21, 17-21 to the 10th seed Suppanyu Avihingsanon.
Ruthvika leads three Indians into Round 2
In women’s singles, 2016 Russian Open champion Ruthvika Shivani led three Indians into the second round. Ruthvika was a 21-14, 21-13 winner over the 111th ranked Belgian Lianne Tan.
She next takes on the World No. 99 Wan Yi Tang for a berth in the last-eight.
Vrushali Gummadi progressed into Round 2, courtesy of a 21-9, 21-15 victory over Indonesia’s Jesica Muljati. Qualifier Pardeshi Shreyanshi won a tight all-Indian first round contest over Vaidehi Choudhari, 24-22, 21-17.
Reshma Karthik lost 21-8, 7-21, 9-21 to Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min. Mugdha Agrey succumbed to a 15-21, 10-21 defeat to Chen Hsiao Huan of Chinese Taipei. Tanvi Lad, who won a round at the 2017 World Championships, too made a disappointing exit after going down 17-21, 19-21 to the World No. 158 Sarita Suwannakitborihan.
In men’s doubles, fifth seeds Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran edged fellow Indians Arun George and Sanyam Shukla, 21-18, 19-21, 21-17 in a 48-minute first round match. Considering that the latter have qualified for this tournament, this was a commendable effort from George and Shukla.
Mixed doubles third seeds Prajakta Sawant of India and her Malaysian partner Yogendran Krishnan got their title hopes dashed by the Malaysian pair of Chen Tang Jie and Tew Jia Jia, who beat them 16-21, 21-19, 21-8.
