World Junior C'ships: Tanvi Sharma, Unnati Hooda register easy wins to kick-off campaign

Guwahati, Oct 14 (PTI) Medal hopefuls Tanvi Sharma and Unnati Hooda were among seven Indian shuttlers to advance to the next round of the singles event at the BWF World Junior Championships here on Tuesday.

Top-seeded Tanvi thrashed Poland's Wiktoria Kaletka 15-2, 15-1 in just 11 minutes while eighth seed Unnati eased to a 15-8, 15-9 win over Hong Kong’s Liu Hoi Anna in 23 minutes.

Rakshitha Sree R then overcame the challenge of Lucy Yang of Canada 15-5, 15-9 to get her campaign going.

In the boys' singles category, 11th seed Rounak Chouhan defeated Sri Lanka's Thisath Rupathunga 15-3, 15-6, 15th seed Suryaksh Rawat beat Yigitcan Erol of Turkiye 15-5, 15-8 while Lalthazuala Hmar got the better of Rylan Tan of USA 15-11, 15-5.

A few hours later, Gnana Dattu TT joined his teammates in the round of 32, beating Brazil's Joaquim Mendonca 15-10, 15-13.

In the next round, Gnana Dattu will face Suryaksh for a place in the pre-quarterfinals.

The only reversal for India in the singles category came when Asian Junior championships bronze medallist Vennala K could not find her rhythm and went down 6-15, 5-15 against fifth seed Tonrug Saeheng of Thailand in the second round.

In the mixed doubles events, 14th seed Bhavya Chhabra and Vishakha Toppo and C Lalramsanga and Taarini Suri advanced to the next round in contrasting manner, while two Indian pairs were knocked out.

Bhavya and Vishakha struggled to drive home the advantage in the second game but recovered well to beat Indonesia’s Ghian Sofyan and Salsabila Aulia 15-4, 13-15, 15-5 while C Lalramsanga and Taarini Suri dominated the second game to win 15-12, 15-5. PTI APA BS BS