Mannepalli into QFs in Vietnam, challenge ends in Hong Kong
HO CHI MINH, Sep 12: Tharun Mannepalli emerged as the standout Indian singles player as he along with two doubles pairs progressed to the quarterfinals at the Vietnam Super 100 tournament here on Thursday.While Tharun Mannepalli produced a commanding performance to defeat Finland’s Joakim Oldorff 21-7 23-21 and emerge as the lone Indian player in singles competition.In mixed doubles, top-seeded Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath demonstrated strong control to outwit Taiwan’s Chen Cheng Kuan and Hung Yu-En 21-18 21-11.Sixth-seeded pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto exhibited their dominance with a 21-9 21-7 win over compatriots Bokka Navaneeth and Ritika Thaker.However, it turned out to be a tough day for the rest of the Indians.In men’s singles, Bharat Raghav lost 12-21 18-21 to China’s Wang Zheng Xing, while Alap Mishra fought valiantly before losing 14-21 22-20 16-21 to Singapore’s Jia Wei Joel Koh.In the women’s singles, Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj went down 18-21 21-23 against Chinese qualifier Dai Wang and Isharani Baruah lost 20-22 17-21 to Mutiara Ayu Puspitasari of Indonesia.In women’s doubles, the second-seeded pair of Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra fell to Lee Chih Chen and Lin Yen Yu of Chinese Taipei, losing 18-21 and 13-21.In men’s doubles, Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala lost 16-21 13-21 to Taiwan’s Lu Chen and Po Li-Wei.
INDIAN CHALLENGE ENDS IN HONG KONG
The doubles pair of B. Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy couldn’t get past eighth seeded Malaysian combination of Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie, losing 11-21 20-22 to bring down curtains on India’s campaign in the super 500 tournament.Commonwealth Games bronze medal-winning duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand fought hard before going down to Liu Sheng and Tan Ning in the women’s doubles pre-quarterfinals of the Hong Kong Open badminton here on Thursday.Liu and Ning won 21-11, 22-20.Jolly and Gayatri earlier got past Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova and Yevheniia Kantemyr 21-14, 21-13 in their opening round clash. (PTI)
Jr. Hockey: UP, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra register wins
JALANDHAR, Sep 12: Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra emerged victorious on day four of the 14th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship here on Thursday.Besides Manipur, Jharkhand, and Bihar also emerged victorious.In the opening game, Uttarakhand edged out Chhattisgarh 7-5 in a high-scoring affair.Uttar Pradesh then defeated Puducherry 6-1 in the second match of the day.In a one-sided encounter, Maharashtra thrashed Goa 17-1. Manipur secured a 2-0 win over Himachal before Jharkhand defeated Bengal 5-1.In the final match of the day, Bihar triumphed 3-1 over Telangana. (PTI)