Priyanshu Rajawat and Tressa/Gayatri have become the lone flagbearers of Indian challenge at the Syed Modi International 2023.
The Syed Modi India International did not pan out for the Indian shuttlers as they would have liked. Already star shuttlers Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth had both withdrawn from the tournament. Naturally, it left a relatively inexperienced Indian challenge at the tournament. On the other hand, this void of experience gave ample opportunities for young players to test themselves against the best in the world. Subsequently, this prized opportunity has been grabbed by three shuttlers Priyanshu and the duo Tressa/Gayatri. Priyanshu and Tressa/Gayatri have emerged victorious in their respective groups to cruise to the quarters.
Priyanshu Rajawat was the lone Indian shuttler to qualify for the quarterfinals in men’s singles. While Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand made the cut in women’s doubles at the Syed Modi International badminton tournament on Thursday. Priyanshu, who won the Orleans Masters this year, emerged victorious after compatriot Sathish Kumar Karunakaran retired while lagging 18-21 6-11 in the second-round match. The world no. 31 will now face the heat of the Indonesian qualifier Alwi Farhan. As many as 10 Indians had participated in the men’s singles draw. This draw also had the likes of world no. 12 Japanese Kenta Nishimoto and world no. 14 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei. Both Kenta and Chou entered the tournament as the top two world-ranked players.
On the other hand, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa and Gayatri also had a presence on the court. The Indian duo entered the tournament as the fourth seed. Substanteously, they defeated compatriots Dhanyaa Nandakumar and Ridhi Kaur Toor 21-9 21-5 and are set to face another Indian pair next.
World no. 40 Kiran George, who won the Denmark Masters this year, fought hard before going down 16-21, 21-18 & 20-22. The young Indian shuttler lost to world no. 36 Chia Hao Lee of Taiwan. Things were more gloomy in women’s singles as none of the Indian players could cross the second round. This was after though as many as 11 of them participated in the tournament. The draw has Japan’s world no. 17 Aya Ohori as the top-ranked player.
While the left-handed Ashmita Chaliha, who had won Maldives International this season, was outclassed by third seed Ohori 21-7 21-13, 16-year-old Unnati Hooda, the 2022 Odisha Open and 2023 Abu Dhabi Masters winner was humbled 9-21 13-21 by former world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan and qualifier Janani Ananthakumar lost 15-21 12-21 to Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching.
Anupama Upadhyaya, the former junior world no. 1 and current senior national champion, lost 16-21 17-21 to Taiwan’s Sung Shuo Yun, seeded eighth, while Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, who was part of the 2018 gold-medal-winning Commonwealth Games mixed team, was no match for Thailand’s Lalinrat Chaiwan, losing 8-21 12-21.
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