India Open 2017: Four women shuttlers enter main draw, Aditya Joshi, Harsheel Dani bow out

New Delhi: It was a good day at work for Indian women shuttlers as they grabbed all four spots on offer in the qualification round of the BWF Metlife Yonex Sunrise India Open World Superseries on Tuesday.

A total of 15 Indian women players were in the fray with Rasika Raje, Pardeshi Shreyanshi, Sai Uttejitha and Anura Prabhudesai winning both their matches to advance to the main draw of the USD 325,000 tournament.

Taking on Akarshi Kashyap in her second match of the day, the 21-year-old looked to be in great touch and won the match 21-18, 21-16 in straight games to sail into the next round.

Earlier in the day, Kashyap had beaten Mugdha Agrey 21-9, 21-12 while Rasika beat Amolika Singh Sisodiya 21-11, 15-21, 21-9.

Pardeshi got a walkover in her first match against Mudaliar Pooja. In her second match, she beat Vaidehi Choudhari 21-12, 18-21, 21-10 to seal her spot.

Sai Uttejitha had a rather easy outing winning both her matches in a rather easy fashion. She beat Deepali Gupta 21-7, 21-8 in her second match. In her opening match, she outclassed Lalita Dahiya 21-12, 21-12. Anura Prabhudesai beat Ira Sharma in her first match 21-14, 21-13 followed by a 21-13, 21-14 victory over Debora Rumate Vehrinica of Indonesia.

While the women’s players excelled on the day, it was a heartbreak for the Indian men shuttlers as none of them could make it to the main draw.

Former junior world number no.1 Aditya Joshi crashed out of the tournament after losing his opening round match 14-21, 11-21 against Kenta Nishimoto of Japan. Harsheel Dani of India also could not advance into the main round after he lost to Rahul Yadav 21-12, 15-21, 12-21.

Yadav, however, could not proceed further as he lost to Nishimoto 6-21, 12-21 in his second match.

In the women’s doubles action, Mahima Aggarwal and Maneesha K made it through to the main round after they won both their matches. The young Indian pair beat the duo of Smriti Nagarkoti and Parssa Naqbi 21-11, 21-16 in their first match followed by a win over 21-18, 21-15 win over Anto Agna and Sneha Santhilal.

In the mixed doubles competition, the Indian pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sumeeth Reddy could not qualify for the main draw as they went down to the English pair of Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith 17-21, 18-21 in their opener.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Maneesha K also crashed out of the tournament after they lost their second match of the day against the Korean pair of Jae-Han Kim and Lee So Hee