Hyderabad: Shuttlers Gayatri Gopichand Pullela and Lakshya Sen continued to carry the Indian flag at the BWF World Junior Championships being held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, as they entered the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s and men’s singles respectively on Wednesday.
Gayatri was involved in a tough fight with Michelle Skodstrup of Denmark before beating her 19-21, 21-18, 21-17 in a 56-minute fourth round match. The Hyderabad girl will now take on sixth seeded Yanyan Cai of China, who sent Sum Yee Yeung of Hong Kong 21-13, 21-9.
Gayatri remains the only Indian in the singles draw after eighth seed Aakarshi Kashyap and Ashmita Chaliha lost their fourth round matches. Aakarshi went down 16-21, 18-21 to Thi Anh Thu Vu of Vietnam while Ashmita put up a tough fight before losing to ninth seed Chasinee Korepap of Thailand 22-24, 21-19, 17-21.
On the men’s side, second seed Lakshya Sen is the only Indian left in the singles. On Wednesday he defeated Li Shifeng of China 21-16, 21-11.
The Results
Women’s singles fourth round: Gayatri Gopichand Pullela (India) bt Michelle Skodstrup (Denmark) 19-21, 21-18, 21-17; Aakarshi Kashyap (8, India) lost to Thi Anh Thu Vu (Vietnam) 16-21, 18-21; Ashmita Chaliha (India) lost to Chasinee Korepap (9, Thailand) 22-24, 21-19, 17-21.
Men’s singles fourth round: Lakshya Sen (2, India) bt Li Shifeng (China) 21-16, 21-11; Rahul Bharadwaj B.M (India) lost to Arnaud Merkle (11, France) 19-21, 21-10, 14-21; Kartikey Gulshan Kumar (13, India) bt Brian Yang (Canada) 21-15, 21-12.
Women’s doubles third round: Malvika Bansod/ Deeksha Choudhary (India) lost to Vimala Heriau/ Leonice Huet (16, France) 14-21, 13-21.
Men’s doubles third round: Krishna Prasad Garaga/ Dhruv Kapila (3, India) bt Tae Yang Shin/ Chan Wang (Korea) 21-12, 21-16.
Mixed doubles third round: Srikrishna Sai Kumar Podile/ Rutaparna Panda (India) lost to Natthapat Trinkajee/ Kwanchanok Sudjaipraparat (Thailand) 15-21, 21-14, 18-21; Arintap Das Gupta/ Srishti Jupudi (India) lost to Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob/ Angelica Wiratama (4, Indonesia) 13-21, 21-16, 7-21.
