Australian Open: HS Prannoy and Sameer Verma March Ahead

Advertisement

The Indian Badminton contingent is going strong in the Australian Open badminton in all the categories be it men and women, singles or doubles the Indian team has shown great resilience and game sense throughout the tournament. The performance delivered by the majority of the players has been satisfactory so far. Let’s look at how the Indian players have performed so far in the tournament.

Advertisement

Australian Open: HS Prannoy and Sameer Verma March Ahead

Prannoy’s Steller Show

H.S. Pranoy who is leading India’s challenge in the Australian Open has earned a spot in the next round of the tournament with a commanding victory over the world number 1 player Misha Zilberman of Israel in just 46 minutes with a score line of  21-17, 21-15 in the round of 16 stage.

Verma’s Toil

While Prannoy registered an easy victory his teammate Sammer Verma had to toil hard to earn a win over Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew as it took him one hour and two minutes to close out the match with the margin of 21-14, 14-21,21-19.

The Heartbreak

If we talk about other results in the men’s completion India’s Kiran George lost his match against Kenta Nishimoto of Japan with a scoreline of 20-22, 6-21 which meant that his journey in the Australian Open was over.

Also Read: Do you know what are the five best shots in badminton?

The Road Ahead

Prannoy will now face Japan’s Naodi Karokas in the next round which will be the quarterfinal of the tournament on Friday while Sammer Verma will take on Chinese Tipies Chun Yi Lin on the same day and the winner of both matches will march on to the Semi Fianal i.e. the top four stage of the Australian Open.

Women’s Matches

If we talk about the women’s competition then the Indian contingent has been performing there as well with eighth seed Akarshi Kashyap beating Australia’s Kai Qi Bernice Teoh by a margin of 21-13, 21-16 to advance to the next stage of the tournament. On the other hand, another shuttler Anupama Upadhyaya and Malvika Bansod lost their respective matches with a scoreline of 11-21, 18-21, and 17-21,21-23 respectively which ended their journey in the tournament.

Also Read: Top five youngest female badminton players of 2024 in the world

The End

The tournament also ended for seventh seed Panda sisters, Rutaparna and Swetaparna in the women’s doubles after losing to the Malaysian combination of Pei Jing Lai and Chiew Sien Lim in a shocking defeat by a margin of 5-21, 9-21.

The Relief

Among certain disappointments, there was some relief for team India as the mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy continued their winning momentum as they defeated Australia’s Kai Chen Teoh and Kai Qi Bernice Teoh by a margin of 21-11,21-11 to enter the top eight stage of the multination tournament.

Advertisement