Local stars Tara Shah and Darshan Pujari gave Maharashtra some reason to cheer winning their respective matches.
On a two-session-two-round day, Abhinav, who turned heads in the morning by knocking out world No.9 Prince Dahal of Nepal in Round 2 bowed in the last-16 round. Pitted against No. 11 Tushar Suveer, Abhinav lost tamely 21-11, 21-14.
Overall six seeds made their exit — four in the last-32 round and two in the pre-quarterfinals respectively.
Amidst all the drama two players that stood out were Pune lass and No. 7 Tara Shah who downed No. 12 Anyapat Phichitpreechasak (Thailand) 21-17, 21-14 in a 34-minute battle to enter the quarterfinals of the women’s singles. Earlier, she put out Stuti Agarwal in three games.
In the men’s singles, Darshan Pujari won the battle of unseeded players against Remus Ng (Singapore) 21-9, 21-16 to make the last 8. In fact, on a day when many players struggled, Darshan won both his matches in a straight game which includes beating Samarveer 21-8, 22-20.
Interestingly, qualifiers made a strong impact with as many as three (two men and one woman) making it to the quarterfinal round. Dhruv Negi beat fell qualifier Rushendra Thirupathi 21-16, 21-18 and Pranay Shettigar beat another qualifier Anishraj Rajkumar 21-11, 20-22, 21-7 in the men’s section, while Tanvi Sharma put out Rujula Ramu 21-16, 21-10.
RESULTS (All Indians unless mentioned otherwise)
Men’s Singles (Pre-quarters): 11-Tushar Suveer bt Q-Abhinav Manglam 21-11, 21-14; Q-Dhruv Negi bt Q-Rushendra Thirupathi 21-16, 21-18; Darshan Pujari bt Remus Ng (Singapore) 21-9, 21-16; Q-Pranay Shettigar bt Q-Anishraj Rajkumar 21-11, 20-22, 21-7; 7-Muhammad Halim As Sidiq (Indonesia) bt Neer Nehwal 21-17, 25-23; 4-Lakshay Sharma bt Abhishek Santhoshkumar 21-15, 21-17; 8-Ayush Shetty bt 10-Wongsup Wongsup-In (Thailand) 21-18, 21-17; 2-Pranav Rao Gandham bt Q-Rounak Chouhan 21-17, 21-17
Women’s Singles (Pre-quarters): 1-Anupama Upadhyaya bt Neysa Cariappa 21-14, 19-21, 21-17; 15-Sreshta Reddy Kannareddy bt Akansha Matte 23-21, 12-21, 21-16; 9-Sarunrak Vitidsarn (Thailand) bt 4-Isharani Baruah 21-17, 21-15; Navya Kanderi bt Radhika Sharma 21-17, 21-16; Q-Tanvi Sharma bt Q-Rujula Ramu 21-16, 21-10; 3-Unnati Hooda bt Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye 21-10, 16-21, 21-11; 7-Tara Shah bt 12-Anyapat Phichitpreechasak (Thailand) 21-17, 21-14; Shriyanshi Valishetty bt Q-Chitwan Khatri 20-22, 21-16, 21-11.
–IANS
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