India make flying start in South Asian Badminton

GUWAHATI, Dec 4: India made flying start in the 1st South Asian Badminton Championship by winning their both matches on day I at the Tarun Ram Phukan indoor stadium here today. In their first game home team defeated Nepal by 5-0 and later won against Bangladesh by identical margin. Ashmita Chaliha, the lone state player in the Indian team, won both her doubles matches today, pairing with Mithula.

India’s first tie of the day saw Aryaman Tandon defeat Nepal’s bin Shreshtha 21-8, 18-21, 21-14 in the boys’ singles clash after a minor hiccup in the second game but regained control as the game went down to the wire. However, in the girls’ singles clash, the rising star of India Aakarshi Kashyap overcame the challenge from Rashila Maharjan in straight sets (21-5, 21-7) to make it 2-0 in the tie.

Next up were the robust pair of Arintap Das Gupta and Krish Prasad taking on the might of bin Shreshtha and Dipesh Dhami. But the latter pair were shredded to pieces in the second game after a valiant fight in the first as the clash ended 21-18, 21-9. The same trend followed in the girls’ singles and mixed doubles clash as Ashmita Chaliha/ Mithulu U.K and Krish Prasad/ Mithulu U.K emerged triumphant against Jessica Gurung/ Suya Mukhiya and Dipesh Dhami/ Suya Mukhiya in their respective clashes, to eventually seal the tie in India’s kitty 5-0.

In the second tie of the day, the Indian shuttlers came into their element as they didn’t let any clash go past the second game and defeated each of their opponent from Bangladesh in straight sets and underlined their domince.

Aryaman Tandon breezed past Hamidur Rahman Lukman 21-9, 21-8, whereas Aakarshi Kashyap displayed her elegance as she rolled over Urmi Akther with ease (21-11, 21-4).

Arintap and Krish Prasad didn’t have an easy time out as both their games were evenly contested but the Indian pair came out on top  in straight sets (21-15, 21-18) in the boys’ doubles clash.

However, the girls’ doubles pair were in no mood to let points slip and seemed to be in a hurry to finish off the clash as they defeated Rasma Akther and Urmi Akther in comprehensive fashion, 21-8, 21-5. The Indian team remained unbeaten on the first day as Krish Prasad and Mithula U.K’s mixed doubles pair also finished off Urmi Akther and Al Amin Jumar with a similar score of 21-7, 21-6.

In other encounters on day one, even though Nepal were washed out by the Indians, they registered a sweeping victory against Bhutan as they beat them 5-0 while Maldives lost out to Bhutan 2-3 in a close fought encounter.

The meet was formally iugurated by the president of the Badminton Association of India and Assam Badminton Association Himanta Biswa Sarma. The iugural function was also attended by DGP Mukesh Sahay, vice president of the organizing committee Partha Sarath Mahanta, Secretary (sports) Sanjiv Gohain Baruah, Director (Sports) Pabitraram Khound and the secretary of the Assam Badminton Association Omar Rashid.