Emerging badminton talent Anmol Kharb maintained her impressive performance, securing a spot in the women’s singles quarterfinals alongside four other Indian players at the Kazakhstan International Challenge held in Astana on April 4th.
Apart from Anmol, Devika Sihag, in good form, former national champion Anupama Upadhaya, seventh seed Tanya Hemanth, and Isharani Baruah also progressed to the quarterfinals in the women’s singles category.
Anmol, the current senior national champion, played a significant role in securing an unprecedented gold for the Indian women’s team at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in February. She secured her spot in the quarterfinals by defeating UAE’s Nurani Ratu Azzahra with a score of 21-11, 21-7 in the second round.
The 17-year-old Anmol is set to face Japan’s Sorano Yoshikawa in the next round.
Sihag, who clinched two international challenge titles out of the four finals she reached this season, defeated fourth-seeded Azerbaijan’s Keisha Fatimah Azzahra with a score of 21-12, 21-12, earning a match-up against fellow Indian Anupama, who triumphed over Czech Republic’s fifth seed Tereza Švabikova.
Seventh seed Tanya advanced by defeating Israel’s Ksenia Polikarpova with a score of 21-11, 21-18. She is now poised to compete against fellow Indian Isharani, who overcame New Zealand’s Tiffany Ho with a score of 21-10, 20-14.
Sihag claimed victory at the Swedish Open and Portugal International tournaments, securing runner-up positions at the Estonian International and Dutch International events.
Moving to the men’s singles category, Ravi, Bharat Raghav, and Tharun Mannepalli advanced to the quarterfinals.
Ravi secured his spot by defeating fellow Indian Manraj Singh with a close score of 21-19, 22-20. Bharat triumphed over Sai Charan Koya with a score of 21-13, 21-17, while Tharun emerged victorious in a thrilling match against S. Sankar Muthusamy with a score of 22-24, 21-18, 21-13.
Tharun is set to take on local fourth seed Dmitriy Panarin, while Ravi and Bharat are scheduled to compete against each other in the next round.
In the mixed doubles category, the pairs of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvija Shivani Gadde, Abhyuday Choudhary and Vaishnavi Khadkekar, Sanjai Srivatsa Dhanraj-Maneesha K, and Zhakuo Seyie and Alisha Khan all advanced to the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, the men’s doubles duo of Mohit Singh and Kevin Chaen Chhang Wong, as well as the women’s doubles pair of Harshitaa Rout and Sruti Swain, also secured spots in the quarterfinals.
