India’s junior badminton team has secured a place in the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Junior Mixed Team Championship, currently taking place in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The team finished second in Group C after a thrilling match against Indonesia on Sunday.
Despite having already qualified for the knockout stage, India chose to rest Tanvi Sharma in the girls’ singles and brought in fresh mixed and men’s doubles pairs for their final group match. Dhruv Negi was tasked with the boy’s singles rubber. Navya Kanderi, who filled in for Sharma in the girls’ singles, was the only Indian player to secure a point in the match, ultimately falling short against the hosts with a final score of 1-4.
The mixed doubles pair of Vansh Dev and Shravani Walekar lost their opening match against Taufik Aderya and Clairine Mulia 14-21, 16-21. Negi put up a valiant fight against Bueno Oktora, but ultimately fell to a 14-21, 21-11, 11-21 defeat. The tie was decided when Bhargav Ram Arigela and Vishwa Tej Gobburu lost the boys’ doubles 17-21, 15-21 to Anselmus Prasetya and Pulung Ramadhan. Navya brought a point back for India with a decisive 21-19, 21-19 victory over Mutiara Puspitasari.
Meanwhile, on the tennis front, Vaidehi Chaudhary dominated the final of the USD 25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Taipei, Taiwan, defeating Kyoka Okamura of Japan in a hard-fought three-set match that lasted over three hours. This victory marked Chaudhary’s third singles title in the professional circuit. She also holds four doubles titles in international competitions.
In another tournament, Sahaja Yamalapalli secured a spot in the title clash of the USD 15,000 women’s event in Los Angeles, where she will face Amy Zhu of the USA.
In the ITF junior tennis tournament in Nonthaburi, Thailand, Hitesh Chauhan of the Roundglass Academy was defeated by Hyu Kawanashi of Japan 7-5, 6-3 in the final. Hitesh had earlier overcome the third-seeded Koshiro Nakamae of Japan 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals.
Adding to the string of successes, two other Roundglass Academy trainees, Yashwin Dahiya and Vivaan Bidasaria, finished as runners-up in the doubles competition at the Asian under-14 event in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. The Indian duo, who had previously won the title in China, were defeated in the final 4-6, 6-4, [10-3] by Makhmudbek Beknazarav of Uzbekistan and Radion Traigel of Kazakhstan.
These young athletes have demonstrated their talent and potential on the international stage, with their impressive performances showcasing the bright future of Indian junior badminton and tennis.
