NAGPUR: The challenge of city shuttlers came to a dramatic end on the penultimate day of the Victor Ukraine International
badminton series on Thursday.
While second seed
Malvika Bansod
made a shock exit in the quarterfinal stage of the women’s singles, qualifier Rohan Gurbani went down in the pre-quarterfinals of the meet. The day, however, brought fluctuating fortunes for Ritika Thaker in the mixed and women’s doubles.
Partnering with Hyderabad’s Navaneeth Bokka, the city shuttler hogged the limelight in their mixed doubles pre-quarterfinal clash. The Indian duo surprised top seeded and world’s 76th ranked German pair of
Patrick Scheiel
and Franziska Volkmann in straight games 21-16, 21-15.
Ritika and Navaneeth, however, failed to continue the momentum in the quarterfinals as the unseeded Ukraine duo of Danylo Bosniuk and
Yevgeniya Paksyutova
ended their campaign in straight games 30-29, 21-12.
Earlier, Ritika partnering with Simran Singhi, as the fourth seeds, suffered a hard-fought 57-minute defeat in three games against unseeded Ukraine pair of Mariia Stoliarenko and
Yelyzaveta Zharka
.
In the women’s singles quarterfinal, title contender and 20-year-old Malvika went down fighting to Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova 21-15, 5-21, 21-14. The contest lasted for 50 minutes. Earlier, Malvika eased into the last eight stage with a straight game win over Anupama Upadhyaya in 33 minutes.
In the men’s singles second round, Rohan fought a thrilling three-game battle lasting 58 minutes before bowing out against Kyrylo Leonov of Ukraine 17-21, 21-18, 21-19.
RESULTS
WOMEN SINGLES (QF): Polina Buhrova (Ukraine) bt Malvika Bansod 21-15, 5-21, 21-14. PQF: Malvika bt Anupama Upadhyaya 21-16, 21-8.
MEN'S SINGLES (PQF): Kyrylo Leonov (Ukraine) bt Rohan Gurbani 17-21, 21-18, 21-19.
MIXED DOUBLES (QF): Danylo Bosniuk-Yevgeniya Paksyutova bt Navaneeth Bokka-Ritika Thaker 30-29, 21-12. PQF: Navaneeth-Ritika bt Patrick Scheiel-Franziska Volkmann (Germany) 21-16, 21-15.
WOMEN'S DOUBLES (PQF): Mariia Stoliarenko-Yelyzaveta Zharka (Ukraine) bt Simran Singhi-Ritika 13-21 21-19 21-13.
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