Badminton
Australian Open: Anwesha Gowda enters second round
Anwesha Gowda made a winning start to her women's singles campaign to be the lone Indian survivor at the Australian Open.
Anwesha Gowda (Source: Bulgaria Badminton Federation)
Anwesha Gowda made a winning start to her women's singles campaign to be the lone Indian survivor at the Australian Open Super 300 tournament on Wednesday.
The 14-year-old from Delhi, who won four junior international titles out of the six finals that she reached this year, beat Pitchaya Elysia Viravong 21-9 21-11 in 21 minutes.
She will face Malaysia's Goh Jin Wei in the second round.
Goh had accounted for another Indian Tanya Hemanth, beating her 21-15 21-16 in just over half an hour.
Gowda had won the Iberdrola Spanish Junior Internationals, Faroe Games Junior International, Fz Forza Stockholm Junior and Amot Israel Junior this year, besides reaching the finals at Junior International events in Bulgaria and Denmark.
Top Indian Sameer Verma, who had failed to complete his opening match against Jonatan Christie at Hylo Open earlier this month due to an injury, has pulled out of the tournament.
Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker have also pulled out of the event.
Women's doubles pair of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda went down 16-21 14-21 to Chinese Taipei's Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun to bow out of the competition.
