Guwahati, Dec 7:
Experienced campaigner Sameer Verma proved that he was getting closer to his best as he upset men’s singles third seed Kiran George in straight games while women’s singles fifth seed Aakarshi Kashyap saved a match point to beat Denmark’s Amalie Schulz to advanceto the pre-quarterfinals of the Yonex Sunrise Guwahati Masters Super 100 badminton tournament here on Wednesday.
Verma, who has been struggling with injuries for the last few months, dominated theproceedings against the third seed Kiran through-out the 32-minutesecond round encounter, winning 21-13, 21-13.
While Kiran couldnot find a way past Verma, Kashyap kept her nerves after losing theopening game to beat Schulz 15-21, 21-17, 22-20 in a match that saw theIndian play catch-up in the business end of the third game after heropponent clinched four straight points from 13-16 to take a one-point lead.
Kashyap saved a match point at 19-20 and then bagged twoconsecutive points to set up a second round clash against ChineseTaipei’s Lin Sih yun.
Also advancing to the next round werewomen’s singles players Ira Sharma and Tanya Hemanth, who defeated theirmore illustrious Malaysian opponents. Ira came from a game down to beatWong Ling Ching, ranked 63 placed above the Indian, 17-21, 21-17, 21-12while Tanya got the better of top Malaysian star Kisona Selvaduray21-16, 15-21, 21-16 to reach the Round of 16.
Ira will now faceanother Malaysian Karupathevan Letshanaa while Tanya takes on compatriotMalvika Bansod for a place in the quarterfinals. Malvika had earlierdefeated Uganda’s Fadilah Rafi 21-10, 21-10 in the earlier round.
Men’sNational champion Mithun Manjunath and junior world championshipsbronze medallist Ayush Shetty registered contrasting wins to advance tothe next round. Mithun, seeded 7th, defeated compatriot Hemanth Gowda21-14, 21-10 in the second round while Shetty got the better ofIndonesia’s Jason Alexander 21-12, 14-21, 21-17.
Later in the day, women’s singles national champion Anupama Upadhyaya advanced to thepre-quarters with a 21-11, 21-16 win over Bilqis Prasista of Indonesia.
