Malvika Bansod ends Austrian Open campaign with quarterfinal loss

Talented Indian shuttler Malvika Bansod gave a good account of herself at the Austrian Open International Series despite a narrow defeat-/ against top seed Clara Azurmendi of Spain in the quarterfinals.

The 19-year-old from Nagpur bounced back from a game down to grab the second game before going down narrowly 17-21 21-15 19-21 against world no 71 Clara on Saturday night.

Malvika had earlier defeated seventh seed Léonice Huet of France 21-9 21-6 in the pre-quarterfinals after notching up a 21-13 21-15 win over Czech Republic's Tereza Švábíková in the opening round on Friday.

Malvika had won the Maldives International Future Series on her senior debut in 2019, before claiming the Annapurna Post International Series in Nepal.

She also won a bronze at the Bahrain International Series in 2019. Among other Indians, Mugdha Agrey and Anjana Kumari faltered in the opening round of women's singles.