Badminton Asia Junior Championships: Malvika goes down after upsetting top seed

Malvika Bansod beat world no. 1 junior player Phittayaporn Chaiwan 21-18, 21-19 in the second round, before losing to China's Tan Ning in the next round. Meanwhile, Maisnam Meiraba lost to two-time world junior champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn after winning the first game.

Malvika Bansod, ranked 83 in the world junior rankings, initially upset world no.1 Phittayaporn Chaiwan and then lost to Tan Ning a few hours later.

Malvika Bansod’s singles campaign at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships ended in the third round but not before causing a huge upset at Suzhou, China, on Thursday.

Bansod, ranked 83rd in the world junior rankings, faced world no. 1 junior player Phittayaporn Chaiwan, who even holds a ranking of 59 in the senior category. That could not deter the young Indian who held her nerves to pull off a stunning 21-18, 21-19 second round win over the Thai in 38 minutes.

Malvika, however, failed to repeat her heroics in her next girls’ singles match a few hours later and went down 14-21, 8-21 to China’s Tan Ning.

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In the boys’ singles, Maisnam Meiraba also had to bite the dust in the second round after being the best-performing Indian over the last few days at this tournament.

The junior world no. 14 began on a thunderous note, snatching the first game from two-time world junior champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn only to see the Thai storming back for an 18-21, 21-15, 21-8 win in 55 minutes.

Unnati Bisht was another Indian to reach the third round in girls’ singles following a 21-6, 21-10 victory over Hong Kong’s NG Tin Yan. The Indian’s campaign, however, was cut short 21-8, 21-13 in that round by the fifth seed Benyapa Aimsaard of Thailand.

In girls’ doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Aditi Bhatt were brilliant in their 21-12, 21-18 win over Chinese Taipei’s Jiang Pin-Yue and Ting Ya-Yun that put them in the pre-quarter-finals.

Earlier, Aashi Rawat also succumbed to a 10-21, 14-21 defeat at the hands of the second seed Zhou Meng while Aditi Bhatt lost 13-21, 15-21 to fourth seed Han Qian Xi.

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In boys’ singles, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran was the only one to enter the third round, courtesy of his 21-11, 21-7 win over Sumiyasuren Enkhbat of Mongolia. Siddhanth Gupta and Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian both crashed out.

There were some good results for India in doubles. Ishaan Bhatnagar and Vishnu Vardhan Goud Panjala beat Bangladesh’s Md. Abdul Hamid Lukman and Gourab Singha 21-10, 21-15.

Also advancing to the third round were the pairs of Ravikrishna-Manav Raj Sumith and Manjit Singh Khwairakpam-Dingku Singh Konthoujam.