Kartikeya goes down to Thailand’s Kunlavut in international badminton semifinals
In the boys’ semifinals, the Thai player comfortably pocketed the first game 21-16, without sweating much against the Indian.
India’s Kartikeya gave a tough fight before going down to Thailand’s top-seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the boys’ semifinal of the Sushant Chipalkatti Memorial Yonex Sunrise India Junior International Badminton Championship at PDMBA complex, Shivajinagar on Saturday.
In the girls’ semifinal, India’s challenge came to an end when eighth-seed Pune player Purva Barve went down to top-seed Pattarasuda Chaiwan 14-21, 17-21 in the quarterfinals. In the girls’ doubles too, Ramya Venkatesh C and Trisha Hegde lost their quarterfinal match to top-seed Min Ji Kim and Ah Yeong Seon of South Korea. The score read 21-7, 21-8 in Korea’s favour. Another Indian pair, Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker, also crashed out to second-seeded pair of Agatha Imanuela and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Malaysia 14-21, 19-21.
In the boys’ semifinals, the Thai player comfortably pocketed the first game 21-16, without sweating much against the Indian. However, Kartikeya bounced back in the second. He took an early 6-4 lead and maintained it till 14-11. However, the top seed slowly levelled the scores 15-15. Kartikeya went on the aggressive in the later part of the game and quickly rushed to a 20-17 lead. Vitidsarn managed to reduce the margin by a couple of points, but in the end, it was Kartikeya who walked away with 21-19 win.
The pressure was clearly seen mounting on the top-seed when he entered the court for the decider. He desperately played some aggressive shots and in return gained a 5-0 lead. But that wasn’t enough for the Indian as he calmly replied to every move from his higher ranked opponent. When the scores read 7-7, Vitidsarn lost a point on his serve, but managed to hold on with a marginal 11-10 lead.
Kartikeya continued his pressure as the scores read 17-16, but some quick points gave the Thailand top-seed a decisive 19-16 lead. He didn’t let the opportunity slip away from his hands and entered the final with 21-16 win over Kartikeya.
Rahul Bhardwaj is the lone Indian in the summit clash now. In the boys’ semifinal, he defeated Indian player Kiran George 21-16, 20-22, 24-22.
Man prays for son, gets warned
Kartikeya’s father Gulshan Kumar was seen anxiously muttering the Hanuman Chalisa mantra next to the court when the semifinal match was going on. The chair referee allowed him to do so, however, when he suspected that Gulshan Kumar was giving some tips to his son during the match, he took the matter to the deputy tournament referee Uday Sane. The officials gave Gulshan Kumar a mild warning, but allowed him to continue praying for his son.