Asian Junior Badminton Championships: India enter quarter-finals despite going down 1-4 against Korea

New Delhi: Barring Lakshya Sen, none of the Indians could stand in front of the clinical Koreans as they went down 1-4 in their last Group C match but still managed to qualify for the quarterfinals of Asian Junior Badminton Championships at Jakarta on 15 July. Having finished second behind Korea in the group, the Indians entered the quarterfinals where they will take on mighty Japan on 16 July. Earlier in the day, the Indian junior shuttlers went through the motions against Sri Lanka and cleaned them up 5-0, stamping their subcontinental authority. [caption id=“attachment_4455563” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Lakshya Sen. Twitter/@BAI_Media[/caption] India had defeated Kazakhstan by the same margin in the opener. India were expected to put up a semblance of fight against the third-seeded Koreans, but the resistance came only in the form of Lakshya, who revived India’s hope with straight games 21-14 21-13 win over Kim Hyeong Jung in the men singles of the mixed team events. Lakshya’s start was nice and he built on excellently with his strategy to keep his rival to the back court. His strategy paid dividends as the Indian not only used his smashes cleverly but also his forecourt placings surprised the opponent. But for this wonderful response, the other Indians were no match for the Koreans. The men doubles’ pair of Manjit Singh and Dingku Singh, who faced Ki Dong Ju Ki and Shin Tae Yang in the opener, were beaten 17-21 11-21. World no 11 Akarshi Kashyap, was then defeated 23-21 13-21 9-21 by Park Ga Eun in the women’s singles. Later Jang Eun Seo and Lee Eun Ji combined well to dispose off the Indian women doubles pair of Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker 21-15, 21-9. Having already established a winning 3-1 lead, the Korean mixed duo of Jeong Na Eun and Wang Chan then beat Srishti Jupidi and Srikrishna Sai Kumar 13-21 21-18 21-23 in the last rubber of the tie.