NEW DELHI, Nov 29: Top seed Unnati Hooda started her campaign in dominating fashion as seven Indians won their respective matches at the Badminton Asia U-17 & U-15 Junior Championships in Nonthaburi, Thailand on Tuesday.
In the U-17 women’s singles round of 64 match, Odisha Open champion Unnati thrashed Japan’s Misato Sasaki 21-11 21-5 in just 24 minutes.
Unnati will face Indonesia’s Dea Nur Fadilla in the round of 32 match on Wednesday.
In the other U-17 women’s singles match, Anmol Kharb won both her matches to move into the round of 32.
First, she defeated Singapore’s Chujei Jennifer 21-11 21-14 before getting the better of Wening Sabrina of Indonesia 21-19 21-10. Anmol will next play against Ratnacha Sompoch of Thailand.
Sampriti Pal faced a tough challenge from Keira Indriyan of Indonesia in the U-15 women’s singles round of 128 match.
The Indian shuttler won the first game 21-12 but lost the second game 7-21. She made a comeback with a 21-15 win in the third game to wrap up the match in 48 minutes. She will square off against Japan’s Ria Haga in the next round on Wednesday.
Jiya Rawat went down 21-11 14-21 10-21 against Peeraya Wechawong of Thailand in the U-17 women’s singles match.
In the U-15 men’s singles first round, three Indian shuttlers — Abhinav Garg, Anish Thoppani and Mohammad Ali Mir — won their respective matches and moved to the round of 64.
While Abhinav and Anish won in three games against Thailand’s Chinnapat Seangpan and Japan’s Mahiro Matsumoto respectively, Mohammad defeated Srilanka’s Mihila Jayaweeera 21-19-21-14.
In the U-17 men’s singles section, Dhruv Negi defeated Singapore’s Nge Joo Jin 21-19 19-21 21-17 in a close match that lasted 43 minutes while Ansh Negi lost 20-22 21-16 12-21 against Shota Natsuka of Japan in the round of 64 stage. (PTI)