Riya Mookerjee qualifies for Chinese Taipei Open first round

Riya Mookerjee survived a scare after going down easily in the first game to stage a valiant comeback and triumph over Hong Kong’s Cheung Ying to qualify for the women’s singles main event of the BWF World Tour tournament.  The final score read 9-21, 21-16, 23-21 in what was a 34 minute thriller of the highest quality on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old had earlier in the year reached the quarter finals of the Swiss Open as well as the Portuguese International Championships and is steadily making a name for herself in the international circuit. 

She will be going head to head against Thailand’s Supanida Katetthong, who triumphed over local shuttler Lin Chung Yun in the qualifying draw in straight sets. However, Supanida is placed at 79th in the BWF World Tour rankings, 21 places behind her first round opponent.

Meanwhile, past champion and one of India’s leading shuttler sustained an injury and had to withdraw her name from the competition. Other renowned shuttlers such as Sameer Verma and HS Prannoy have also opted to not take part in the event. Hence, Sourabh Verma, another former champion, will be leading the Indian contingent at the World our event.