Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka continued her fine form on the badminton circuit to bag a bronze medal at the 27th Iran Fajr International Challenge that concluded on Thursday in Tehran, Iran.
The 15-year-old Hyderabad girl carried the confidence of stretching recent Indian Open champion Beiwen Zhang to three lengthy games into the Iran event to make a fine run to the women’s singles semifinals, where she lost to champion Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia with a 3-11, 11-7, 5-11, 9-11 scoreline.
Matches at the Challenger event were played on a best-of-five games basis in the first to 11 points (with a difference of two) format.
Earlier in the quarterfinal, the third seeded Vaishnavi got the better of Mariana Ugalde, the eighth seed from Mexico, 11-3, 11-9, 10-12, 11-2. After winning two straight games, Vaishnavi dropped the third at a tight 10-12 before regaining her focus and racing ahead in the fourth to wrap it at 11-2 and seal the match.
In the second round, Vaishnavi stromed past Setayesh Abdolkarimi of Iran 11-8, 11-8, 11-5. Earlier, she had beaten another local girl, Soraya Aghaeihajiagha, 11-9, 10-12, 11-3, 11-7 to start her campaign.
The other Indian women in fray, fourth seeded Rasika Raje and sixth seed Vrushali Gummadi fell in the quarters and second round respectively.
There was more cheer for India at the tournament as World No.5 Srikanth Kidambi’s brother Nandagopal partnered Alwin Francis to capture the men’s doubles title.
Nandagopal & Alwin defeated fellow Indians Tarun Kona & Saurabh Sharma 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9 in a thrilling final.
Earlier in the semifinals, they had blown away the Malaysian pair of Muhammad Amar Mohd Sani & Muhammad Amir Mohd Sani in straight games 11-7, 11-8, 11-6. Meanwhile, Tarun & Saurabh went past Amir Ghasemi & Alireza Qasemi of Iran with a 8-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-13, 11-7 verdict.
Alwin Francis (left) and Nandagopal Kidambi pose with their medals after winning the Iran Challenger.
In the quarterfinals, Nandagopal & Alwin mauled Mehdi Ansari & Ali Hosseinkhani of Iran 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 while Tarun & Saurabh defeated their Iranian opponents Hasan Motaghi & Mehran Shahbazi 7-11, 11-7, 15-14, 11-9.
India did well in the men’s singles too with Shreyansh Jaiswal and Aryamann Tandon picking bronzes as losing semifinalists. Shreyansh lost to eventual champion Cao Cuong Pham of Vietnam 9-11, 11-6, 9-11, 8-11.
The Results
Women’s singles Semifinal (number in brackets denotes seeding): Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka (India, 3) lost to Thinaah Muralitharan (Malaysia, 5) 3-11, 11-7, 5-11, 9-11.Quarterfinal: Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka bt Mariana Ugalde (Mexico, 8) 11-3, 11-9, 10-12, 11-2; Rasika Raje (India, 4) lost to Thet Htar Thuzar (Myanmar) 6-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-3, 3-11.
Second round: Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka bt Setayesh Abdolkarimi (Iran) 11-8, 11-8, 11-5; Rasika Raje bt Lee Zii Yii (Malaysia) 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8; Vrushali Gummadi (India, 6) lost to Thi Phuong Thuy Tran (Vietnam)
6-11, 15-14, 10-12, 11-8, 8-11.
First round: Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka bt Soraya Aghaeihajiagha (Iran) 11-9, 10-12, 11-3, 11-7; Vrushali Gummadi bt Hamedanchi Azad Hale (Iran) 11-5, 11-1, 11-6; Rasika Raje bt Yeganeh Kermani (Iran) 11-9, 11-4, 11-5.
Men’s doubles
l Final: Alwin Francis/ Nandagopal Kidambi (India) bt Tarun Kona/ Saurabh Sharma (India, 4) 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9.
l Semifinals: Alwin Francis/ K. Nandagopal (India) bt Muhammad Amar Mohd Sani/ Muhammad Amir Mohd Sani (Malaysia) 11-7, 11-8,
11-6; Tarun Kona/ Saurabh Sharma (India, 4) bt Amir Ghasemi/ Alireza Qasemi (Iran) 8-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-13, 11-7.
l Quarterfinals: Alwin Francis/ K. Nandagopal (India) bt Mehdi Ansari/ Ali Hosseinkhani (Iran) 11-8, 11-8,
11-5; Tarun Kona/ Saurabh Sharma (India) bt Hasan Motaghi/ Mehran Shahbazi (Iran) 7-11, 11-7, 15-14, 11-9.
l Second round: Alwin Francis/ K. Nandagopal (India) bt Job Castillo/ Lino Munoz (Mexico, 3) 11-5, 9-11,
11-7, 12-10; Tarun Kona/ Saurabh Sharma (India) bt Soroush Eskandari Vatannejad/ Farzin Khanjani (Iran) 11-8, 12-10, 11-2; Kapil Chaudhary/ Brijesh Yadav (India, 2) lost to Mohamad Pairavand/ Seyed Armin Zaki Zadeh (Iran) 11-8, 9-11, 9-11,
11-1, 10-12.
l First round: Alwin Francis/ K. Nandagopal (India) bt Zana Ghaderi/ Parsa Shahbazi (Iran) 11-7, 11-2, 11-3. Tarun Kona/ Saurabh Sharma (India) got a bye; Kapil/ Brijesh got a bye.
Men’s singles
l Semifinals: Shreyansh Jaiswal lost to Cao Cuong Pham (Vietnam, 2)
9-11, 11-6, 9-11, 8-11; Aryamann Tandon (India) lost to Tien Minh Nguyen (Vietnam, 1) 7-11, 13-11, 11-8, 12-14, 11-6.
l Quarterfinals: Shreyansh Jaiswal bt Kartik Jindal (India) 11-9, 11-8, 13-11. Aryamann Tandon (India) bt Mehran Shahbazi (Iran) 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6.
l Third round: Shreyansh Jaiswal bt Bernardo Atilano (Portugal) 11-7, 11-9, 11-4. Aryamann Tandon (India) bt Nader Minaei (Iran) 11-5, 11-3, 11-7; Kartik Jindal (India) bt Le Duc Phat (Vietnam, 7) 11-8, 5-11, 11-8, 7-11,
11-8; Kartikey Gulshan Kumar (India) lost to Cao Cuong Pham (Vietnam, 2) 9-11, 7-11, 6-11.
l Second round: Shreyansh Jaiswal bt Farbod Yasami (Iran) 11-5, 11-2, 11-8. Aryamann Tandon (India) got a walkover from Duarte Nuno Anjo (Portugal, 3); Kartik Jindal (India) bt Chin Yong Chian (Malaysia) 11-9,
11-1, 9-11, 13-11; Kartikey Gulshan Kumar (India) bt Arad Bahri (Iran)
11-0, 11-3, 11-5; Anant Shivam Jindal (India) lost to Farzin Khanjani (Iran) 11-8, 7-11, 12-14, 8-11.
l First round: Shreyansh Jaiswal (India) bt Mohamad Pairavand (Iran) 11-9, 13-11, 12-10; Aryamann Tandon (India) bt Alireza Faghfouri (Iran)
11-5, 11-5, 11-5; Kartik Jindal (India) bt Ali Hosseinkhani (Iran) 11-6, 11-4, 11-8; Kartikey Gulshan Kumar (India) bt Alireza Qasemi (Iran) 11-9, 11-5, 11-6; Anant Shivam Jindal (India) bt Mohamad Chaharmali (Iran) 11-7,
11-8, 11-5.
