At the Yonex Sunrise Guwahati Masters Super 100 badminton competition, Sameer Verma showed signs of recuperation by defeating third-seeded Kiran George in the men’s singles category in straight games. Aakarshi Kashyap, the fifth seed in the women’s singles, battled hard against Amalie Schulz of Denmark.
Sameer Verma, 29, defeated Kiran George in the main event, exhibiting a comeback following setbacks. Verma rallied after falling down early in the first game, taking eight of the final nine points from 13–12 to win the match. Despite suffering from recent ailments, Verma controlled the 32-minute match and won 21-13, 21-13.
Only nine events were played by the formerly 11th-ranked player in the world, who is currently rated 91. He got off to a bad start in the second game, behind Kiran 1–5. He did, however, mount a comeback, tying the score at 10 points apiece and taking the lead by winning eight of the final nine points from 13 to 12.
He played with better accuracy in the second game, quickly building an 8-3 advantage. Even though Kiran made an attempt to rally and once narrowed the deficit to 15-11 by scoring five straight points, it was too little, too late.
Aakarshi Kashyap prevailed 15-21, 21-17, 22-20 after saving a match point at 19-20 in the opening game despite losing it. She sets up a rematch with Lin Sih yun of Taipei, China, in the second round. Anupama Upadhyaya, the national champion in women’s singles, defeated Indonesia’s Bilqis Prasista 21-11, 21-16 to go to the pre-quarterfinals.
Ira Sharma and Tanya Hemanth, the women’s singles competitors, also made an impression by defeating their Malaysian opponents in the second round. Tanya upset top Malaysian player Kisona Selvaduray 21-16, 15-21, 21-16, while Ira overcame Wong Ling Ching 17-21, 21-17, 21-12. While Ira will take against Malaysian Karupathevan Letshanaa, Tanya will compete against fellow countryman Malvika Bansod, who overcame Uganda’s Fadilah Rafi in the previous round.
Men’s National champion Mithun Manjunath and bronze medallist Ayush Shetty from the junior world championships advanced to the next round with opposing victories. Hemanth Gowda was defeated by Mithun 21-14, 21-10, while Jason Alexander of Indonesia was defeated by Shetty 21-12, 14-21, 21-17.
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