Sathish Kumar Karunakaran began his title defence at Odisha Masters in style as he advanced to the round of 16 with a straight-game victory over Darshan Pujari in just 31 minutes at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack on Wednesday.
Sathish Kumar, who is coming into the tournament on the back of winning the title at Guwahati Masters last week, had no trouble against Pujari as he won 21-13, 21-6 and will next take on Raghu Mariswamy. In the mixed doubles event, Sathish-Aadya Variyath beat the pair of Amaan Mohammad and Simran Singhi 21-15, 16-21, 21-15 in 44 minutes to enter the round of 16.
However, it was curtains for No. 3 seed Kiran George as he went down to China’s Liu Yu Xuan in just 34 minutes. George, ranked 37 in the world, failed to find his footing against the 18-year-old Chinese as the latter won 21-19, 21-6. Liu, playing his fourth international tournament, will next take on Manraj Singh in the round of 16.
As for the top seed from Singapore, Jia Heng Jason Teh, he had no issues making it into the round of 16 beating India’s Abhinav Thakur 21-15, 21-9 in 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in women’ singles Anmol Kharb, who went down in the final of Guwahati Masters to China’s Cai Yan Yan, eased into the round of 16, defeating India’s Tanishq Mamilla Palli 21-11, 21-19 in just 36 minutes and will next face off against Ishika Jaiswal of the US.
Tanvi Sharma also advanced to the pre-quarterfinals as she got the better of No. 2 seed Anupama Upadhyaya in 52 minutes. The 15-year-old, who made it to the quarterfinals of the World Junior Championships early this year, earned a thrilling 21-18, 17-21, 21-19 win against the world No. 44 Anupama.
Former junior World No. 1 Tasnim Mir also won on Wednesday as she beat Italy’s Gianna Stiglich 21-11, 21-5 and will be facing off against China’s Cai in the round of 16. It will be a tough encounter considering Can is coming into the tournament on the back of winning Guwahati Masters and will be looking to add another feather to her cap.
Meanwhile, women’s doubles pair of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda also advanced in the tournament in front of their home fans as they beat the team of Aradhana Balachandra and Muskaan Khan 21-14, 21-14 in 37 minutes.