Our Correspondent
New Delhi, March 4,
Madhya Pradesh boy Priyanshu Rajawat was the only Indian to reach the quarter-finals as the country’s campaign came to an end at the prestigious Yonex Dutch Junior International 2019 at Haarlem, the Netherlands on Saturday.
The 17-year-old, hailing from Dhar, put up a gutsy performance in the fourth round to stun the fifth seed Christo Popov 22-20, 15-21, 21-15 in a marathon encounter lasting 1 hour 12 minutes. The youngster, however, failed to replicate that show against the fourth seed Brian Yang in the quarter-finals, going down 13-21, 20-22 to the Canadian.
While Rajawat showed a lot of promise, the rest of the Indian contingent could not cross the pre-quarter-final hurdle. Maisnam Meiraba Luwang, the wonderkid from Manipur, went down 18-21, 10-21 to the third seed Christian Adinata of Indonesia. Andhra Pradesh boy Sai Charan Koya, who had upset the top seed a day earlier, was beaten 15-21, 16-21 by China’s Li Yunze.
In girls’ singles, Gayatri Gopichand had her brilliant run cut short 15-21, 13-21 by the eighth seeded Benyapa Aimsaard of Thailand.
In boys’ doubles, the Telengana pair of Navaneeth Bokka and Vishnu Vardhan Goud Panjala squandered a one-game lead to go down 21-17, 19-21, 10-21 to Indonesians M. Lucky Andres Apriyanda and Yoggi Pamungkas.
The Indian team will now focus on putting up an improved show at the Yonex German Junior 2019 to be held in Berlin from March 7.