NAVELIM: On Tuesday, top seed Pranav Rao Gandham and fifth-seed Ayush Shetty in boys singles and sixth-seed Unnati Hooda and fourth-seed Anupama Upadhyaya in girls singles advanced to the quarter-finals of the Yonex Sunrise All India Ranking Badminton 2022 Goa, held at the Manohar Parrikar indoor stadium in South Goa.
Pranav Rao Gandham of Telangana faced ninth-seed Lakshay Sharma in a high-voltage duel that lasted over an hour. While Pranav lost the first game 17-21, he came back with a 21-12 victory to tie the tie and set up a thrilling decider. Unfortunately, the pre-quarters were cut short when Punjab’s Lakshay, who was suffering from severe cramps, was unable to continue in the third game, which Pranav was leading 11-7.
In another exciting Round 3 match, the tall youngster Ayush Shetty defeated Nicholas Nathan Raj 21-9, 14-21, 21-12 in 41 minutes. In the girls singles event, one of the favourites, Unnati Hooda, defeated Maharashtra’s Aalisha Naik 21-13, 21-16 in 26 minutes. Anupama Upadhyaya, the other big name in the competition, had to fight for 40 minutes to defeat UP’s Samayara Panwar 21-10, 24-22. Anupama had to work hard earlier in the day because Tara Shah gave her a real scare before retiring. Anupama won 12-21, 22-20, 13-5.
Gargi, Anmol Kharb, and Tanoo Chandra advanced to the last-8 stage after qualifying through the Qualifying Tournament. Gargi, who defeated 13th seed Hiral Chouhan 21-17 21-14, will face Hooda in the quarterfinals. Anmol defeated Karnika Sree S. 23-21 21-12, while Tanoo Chandra defeated Ananya Gadgi 21-11 21-10. Meanwhile, the hosts’ challenge concluded today in all events. Nishant Shenai failed to live up to expectations after his stunning marathon victory yesterday, losing 9-21, 17-21 to Samarveer.
In the boys doubles, Goa’s Yash Halarnkar and Aryaman Saraf fell 14-21, 10-21 to TN’s Karthick Raja B-Parth Vaid P, while Synnovia Isabel D’Souza-Pratishtha Shenoy fell 7-21, 10-21 to Harshitaa Rout Sruti Swain. The week-long tournament, hosted by Goa Badminton Association under the auspices of Badminton Association of India, North Goa District Badminton Association, and the Sports Authority of Goa, is nearing completion, with quarter-final and semi-final matches scheduled for Wednesday and the final on Thursday, July 21.
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