Jakarta, Jan 22: Young Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila started their mixed doubles campaign at the USD 475,000 Indonesia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament on a bright note, progressing to the second round with a straight-game win over their rivals here on Wednesday.
Crasto and Kapila defeated the Indonesian combination of Adnan Maulana and Indah Cahya Sari Jamil 21-18 21-14 in their opener to set up a clash against Malaysia’s Pang Ron Hoo and Su Yin Cheng next.
On Tuesday, Crasto also entered the second round of the women’s doubles partnering seasoned Ashwini Ponnappa. The pair defeated Thailand’s Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai 21-6 21-14 and will next meet Malaysia’s Pei Kee Go and Mei Xing Teoh.
The other Indian mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, however, bowed out in the first round, losing 9-21 13-21 against England’s Gregory Mairs and Jenny Mairs.
The start to the day was far from rosy for India as both 2023 Odisha Masters runner-up Ayush Shetty and Kiran George lost their men’s singles opening-round matches.
Shetty gave a tough fight to to world No.1 and twin Asian Games gold medallist Shi Yu Qi of China before going down 19-21 19-21, while Kiran George lost 12-21 10-21 against Jeon Hyeok-jin of Korea.
Later in the day, Lakshya Sen will be up against Takuma Obayashi of Japan, while Priyanshu Rajawat will play another Japanese in Kodai Naraoka.
It was not a good start for India in women’s singles too as Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj lost 17-21 19-21 against Japanese Tomoka Miyazaki in the opening round, while Tanya Hemanth bowed out 14-21 11-21 to Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will open her campaign against Vietnam’s Thuy Linh Nguyen later in the evening.
Star Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty sailed into the second round with a clinical 21-16 21-15 win against Chinese Taipei’s Chen Zhi Ray and Lin Yu Chieh.
The Asian Games champions, who reached back-to-back semifinals at Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750 in the last two weeks, will face the Thai combination of Kittinupong Kedren and Dechapol Puavaranukroh next. (PTI)
