Seventh seed M. Nivetha brought some cheer to the home state with victory over 11th seed Mansi Singh (UP) 21-19, 19-21, 21-10 in the girls’ singles pre-quarterfinals of the Yonex Sunrise all-India junior (under-19) ranking badminton tournament here on Friday.
The 17-year-old, who trains at the Life Spring Badminton Academy in Coimbatore, stood strong even as the seeded stars fell.
In fact, it was Mansi who called the shots for most part of the match. But that did not matter for Nivetha, who is experienced in handling such situations.
No looking back
It took some time for her to gauge her opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and, once she did that, there was no looking back.
In the doubles, V. Nila and V.S. Varshini kept Tamil Nadu’s hopes alive by defeating Priyanka Kanwal and Sneha Rajwar of Uttarakhand 21-11, 21-17 for a place in the quarterfinals.
In the boys’ section, qualifier Priyanshu Rajawat (Madhya Pradesh) upset third seed Dhruv Rawat (Uttarakhand) 21-16, 18-21, 29-27.
The results (pre-quarterfinals)
Boys: Aman Farogh Sanjay bt Jaiditya Pratap Singh (CG) 14-21, 21-10, 21-13; Priyanshu Rajawat (MP) bt Dhruv Rawat (Utr) 21-16, 18-21, 29-27; Orijit Chaliha (Asm) bt Mohit Goury (Har) 21-5, 18-21, 21-13; Kiran George (Ker) bt K. Sathish Kumar (TN) 21-13, 21-16; Alap Mishra (MP) bt G. Pranav Rao (TS) 21-15, 21-13; Varun Trikha (Har) bt Abhyansh Singh (UP) 21-12, 21-16; Amit Rathore (MP) bt Ishaan Bhatnagar (CG) 21-9, 21-18; D. Jaswanth (AP) bt Maisnam Meiraba (Man) 21-15, 21-18.
Doubles: Vishnuvardhan Goud & Sri Krishna Sai Kumar (TS) bt Dhruv Rawat (Utr) & Aakash Yadav (Del) 21-14, 21-16; B. Navaneeth (TS) & Sai Pavan Karri (AP) bt Shreesh Bisht & Bhawesh Pandey (Utr) 21-13, 21-5; M.S. Khwairakpam & D.S. Konthoujam (Man) bt K.S. Ayyagari Phani (TS) & Ankur Dhiman (UP) 21-13, 21-15.
Girls: Aakarshi Kashyap (CG) bt Tanishka Deshpande (Mah) 21-8, 21-12; M. Nivetha (TN) bt Mansi Singh (UP) 21-19, 19-21, 21-10; Malvika Bansod (Mah) bt Trisha Hegde (Kar) 21-12, 21-14; Medha Shashidharan (Kar) bt Amolika Singh (UP) 21-18, 21-12.
S. Kavipriya (Pdy) bt Smit Toshniwal (Mah) 15-21, 21-16, 21-19; Dipti Kuity (Guj) bt Riya Kunjir (Mah) 21-13, 21-18; Unnati Bisht (Utr) bt Drithi Yatheesh (Kar) 21-16, 19-21, 21-14; K. Ashwini Bhat (Kar) bt Likhita Srivastava (Del) 21-9, 21-15.
Doubles: Simran Singhi & Ritika Thaker (Mah) bt Trisha Hegde & Drithi Yatheesh (Kar) 15-21, 21-9, 21-15; V. Nila & V.S. Varshini (TN) bt Priyanka Kanwal & Sneha Rajwar (Utr) 21-11, 21-17; Sahithi Bandi (TS) & R. Thanushree (TN) bt C.V. Ramya (Kar) & Megha Pothamsetty (AP) 21-11, 21-8 .
