India enjoyed a productive day at the Macau Open Super 300 badminton tournament on Wednesday, with Anmol Kharb spearheading the women’s singles campaign as three Indian shuttlers advanced to the pre-quarterfinals.
Eighth seed Anmol continued her impressive form with a commanding straight-game victory over Indonesia’s Mutiara Ayu Puspitasari. The 19-year-old, ranked world No. 51, produced a composed display to seal a 21-13, 21-16 win in 42 minutes and book her place in the round of 16. Fresh from reaching the quarterfinals of the Denmark Challenge last month, Anmol will next face Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei.
Joining her in the pre-quarterfinals was Rakshitha Sree Ramraj. The world No. 53 Indian overcame Malaysia’s Kisona Selvaduray 21-16, 24-22 in a closely contested 46-minute encounter. Rakshitha will now take on South Korea’s Kim Min Sun.
Seventh seed Shriyanshi Valishetty also progressed after emerging victorious in an all-Indian battle against Tasnim Mir. Shriyanshi prevailed 21-18, 19-21, 21-15 in a hard-fought contest lasting 56 minutes and will next face South Korea’s Kim Min Ji.
There was disappointment, however, for Shreya Lele, whose campaign ended with a 12-21, 15-21 defeat to China’s fourth-seeded Han Qian Xi. Aakarshi Kashyap also bowed out despite putting up a spirited fight against South Korea’s Kim Min Ji. After losing the opening game, Aakarshi fought back to level the match before eventually falling 17-21, 21-18, 17-21 in a battle that stretched beyond an hour.
In men’s singles, Rounak Chouhan staged a remarkable comeback to defeat Chinese Taipei’s Wu Zhe Ying. After dropping the first game, Rounak recovered strongly to register an 18-21, 21-15, 21-19 victory in a thrilling contest lasting one hour and five minutes.
- Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, however, could not maintain his early momentum and suffered a 21-11, 18-21, 16-21 defeat against Huang Ping-Hsien of Chinese Taipei.
India also tasted success in mixed doubles through Ishaan Bhatnagar and Shruti Mishra. The pair delivered a dominant performance, brushing aside Germany’s Calvin Devereux and Desiree Toepffer 21-4, 21-6 in just 16 minutes to reach the pre-quarterfinals. They will next face sixth-seeded Chinese duo Li Hong Yi and Huang Ke Xin.
The rest of India’s mixed doubles contingent exited the tournament, with Mohit Jaglan-Lakshita Jaglan, Dhruv Rawat-Maneesha K, Sathwik Reddy Kanapuram-Radhika Sharma, and Rohith Mohankumar-Riduvarshini Ramasamy all suffering defeats in their opening-round matches.
