BWF World Junior Championships 2023: Ayush Shetty, Tara Shah reach last 16, Unnati Hooda exits

Mixed doubles pair Sathwik Kanapuram/Vaishnavi Khadkekar also advanced despite initial setback.

Ayush Shetty and Tara Shah continued their winning run as Indian junior shuttlers advanced to the round of 16 on day three of the BWF World Junior Championships 2023 in Spokane, USA early on Thursday.

Backed by the support of BAI, SAI, REC and Yonex, the Indian shuttlers were outstanding on the third day of the prestigious event.

In the girls' singles match, Tara Shah, the third seed in the tournament, secured a hard-fought victory against Canada's Alena Yu with scores of 23-21, 21-16 in a closely contested battle that lasted 30 minutes.

In the boys' singles section, Ayush Shetty faced a formidable challenge from Indonesia's Muhammad Reza Al Fajri. Although, Muhammad staged a strong comeback after losing the first game, Ayush showed great composure and ultimately clinched the tie 21-14, 13-21, 21-19.

In the mixed doubles category, the duo of Sathwik Reddy Kanapuram and Vaishnavi Khadkekar faced Singapore's Nge Joo Jin and Xiao En Heng. Despite an initial setback, they staged a remarkable comeback and secured victory in the final game, with scores of 19-21, 21-10, 21-7.

In the other mixed doubles tie, Samarveer and Radhika Sharma defeated Bryan Jeremy Goonting and Chan Wen Tse of Malaysia in straight games by 21-19, 21-18 in another close encounter.

In the girls' singles category, Unnati Hooda was bested by the tournament's top seed, Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan, with scores of 13-21, 13-21. In the boys' singles, Tushar Suveer faced Indonesia's Alwi Farhan, the fourth seed, and suffered a 16-21, 19-21 defeat.

In the girls' doubles section, both the doubles pair of Vennala Kalagotla & Shriyanshi Valishetty and Tanvi Sharma &Radhika Sharma lost against the tournament's fifth seed and third seed pair respectively.

Meanwhile, on the boys' doubles court, Nicholas Raj and Tushar Suveer defeated Spain's Daniel Franco and Rodrigo Sanjurjo in straight games with scores of 21-10, 21-16 in just 24 minutes while Divyam Arora and Mayank Rana defeated Estonia's Andrei Schmidt and Hugo Themas 21-19, 21-15 to move to the next round.

Ayush Shetty and Tara Shah along with the four doubles pair will next play in the round of 16.