Team Herald
NAVELIM: Top seed Pranav Rao Gandham and fifth-seed Ayush Shetty in boys singles; sixth-seed Unnati Hooda and fourth-seed Anupama Upadhyaya in girls category, advanced to the quarter-finals of Yonex Sunrise All India Ranking Badminton 2022 Goa, here at the Manohar Parrikar indoor stadium in South Goa, on Tuesday.
It was a tough ride for Pranav Rao Gandham from Telangana against ninth-seed Lakshay Sharma, who matched his higher-rated rival through the high-voltage duel of over an hour. While Pranav lost the first game 17-21, he roared back with 21-12 success to level the tie and set up a mouth-watering decider. Unfortunately, the pre-quarters ended prematurely as the severely cramping Lakshay of Punjab could not continue in the third game when Pranav was leading 11-7.
In another eye-catching Round 3 encounter, the tall youngster Ayush Shetty overcame a stiff challenge from Nicholas Nathan Raj 21-9, 14-21, 21-12 in 41 minutes.
Over in the girls singles event, one of the favourites Unnati Hooda tamed Maharashtra’s Aalisha Naik with a comfortable 21-13, 21-16 in 26 minutes.
The other big name in the competition Anupama Upadhyaya had to battle for 40 minutes to knock UP’s Samayara Panwar out with a 21-10, 24-22 victory. Earlier in the day, Anupama had to work hard as Tara Shah gave her a real scare before retiring. Anupama prevailed 12-21, 22-20, 13-5.
Elsewhere – Gargi, Anmol Kharb and Tanoo Chandra booked their places in the last-8 stage, having come into the Main Draw from the Qualifying Tournament. Gargi, who defeated 13th seed Hiral Chouhan 21-17 21-14, will clash with Hooda in the quarters. Anmol beat Karnika Sree S. 23-21 21-12; while Tanoo Chandra downed Ananya Gadgi 21-11 21-10.
Meanwhile the hosts’ challenge came to an end in all the events today. Having aroused expectations after his stunning marathon victory yesterday, Nishant Shenai failed to hit the same level in the second round and suffered a 9-21, 17-21 loss to Samarveer.
Goa’s Yash Halarnkar and Aryaman Saraf suffered a 14-21, 10-21 defeat to TN’s Karthick Raja B-Parth Vaid P, in the boys doubles while Synnovia Isabel D’Souza-Pratishtha Shenoy lost to Harshitaa Rout Sruti Swain 7-21, 10-21.
The week long tournament, hosted by Goa Badminton Association under aegis / collaboration of Badminton Association of India, North Goa District Badminton Association and the Sports Authority of Goa, enters its final moments, with the quarter-final and semi-finals matches scheduled on Wednesday and final on Thursday July 21 .