Badminton Asia Junior C'ships: India qualifies for quarterfinals

The junior Indian team defeated Hong Kong in the second group of the Badminton Asia Junior Championships to qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament on Saturday.

Coming on the back of a confident 5-0 win against Bangladesh in the first game, India made light work of Hong Kong as Samarveer and Radhika Sharma continued their fine form and won the mixed doubles tie against Deng Chi Fai and Liu Hoi Kiu Anna 21-10, 21-14 in 23 minutes.

In the men's singles tie, Ayush Shetty dominated Lam Ka To to finish the game in 30 minutes with a score of 21-14, 21-9.

Tara Shah faced some resistance in women's singles as Liang Ka Wing won the first game 23-21, but the Indian shuttler made a fine comeback to win the remaining games 21-16, 21-13 to give India an unassailable lead of 3-0.

The doubles pair of Nicholas Raj and Tushar Suveer won their tie comfortably against Chung Ching Cyrus and Yung King To by 21-16, 21-17.

Srinidhi Narayan and Radhika Sharma finished the formalities in the final game and led India to a 5-0 win over Hong Kong, ensuring a place in the quarter-finals.

In the second game of the day, India lost 5-0 to Malaysia to finish second in group C.

India decided to rest the main players and fielded a team of players who didn't feature in the first two games. Samarveer and Radhika lost their first-ever game in the tournament as they lost a 55-minute marathon match against Low Han Chen and Chong Jie Yu 18-21 21-15 21-10.

Lakshya Sharma lost against Egone Ewe in men's singles, while Rakshitha Sree came short against Ong Xin Yee in women's singles.

The men's doubles and women's doubles pair of Nicholas Raj/Tushar Suveer and Rakshitha Sree/Shreyanshi Valishetty also lost their games to confirm India's second position in the group.

This is third consecutive quarter-final appearance for the Indian team in this tournament.

21-13 5-21 21-15