New Delhi: India edged past Sweden 3-2 in their final group fixtures to maintain their unbeaten run and qualify for the quarterfinals of the BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships 2017 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on Wednesday.
Before the game against Sweden, India had run past USA, Hungary and Australia; without dropping a single match. Seeded fifth in the tournament, India stated off in a dominant fashion as the mixed doubles team of Dhruv Kapila/Mithula U K beat Carl HarrBacka/Tilda Sjoo 21-16, 16-21, 21-15 in 40 minutes, according to a release.
World No.2 Laqshya Sen lived up to his reputation as he steamrolled Clin Hammarberg 21-11, 21-9 in the men’s single encounter in just 26 minutes to give India a 2-0 lead in the tie. Ashmita Chaliha beat Ashwati Pillai 21-8, 21-14 in the women’s singles competition to help India take an unassailable 3-0 lead.
With three wins in three matches, it looked like India was on course for another sweep but Krishna Prasad/ Dhruv Kapila and Rutaparna Panda and Mithula UK lost their respective men’s doubles and women’s doubles match .Prasad and Dhruv lost to Adam Gozzi/Carl Harbacka 21-17, 22-20, 21-16 while the women’s doubles team went down to Ashwati Pillai/Tilda Sjoo 24-22, 21-17.
The two losses might have ended India’s perfect record of winning all the matches in the league stages but the result was enough to propel India to the top of the table.
“I am extremely pleased with the performance of the squad. The players have been at the top of their form and I am quite sure that we maintain our current form, we will go deep into the tournament,” Sanjay Mishra, Head coach of Indian junior team said after the match.
“The players have been asked to stay grounded and not get very excited. We are making sure that the players do not get distracted by anything and are fully focused for the game tomorrow,” he added.
India will now face the third seeded Malaysia in the quarterfinals tomorrow.
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