BWF Junior World Ch’ships | India start singles campaign with ruthless victory
India had a mesmerizing start to the first day of the BWF World Junior C’ships’ individual events on Monday, which saw Maisnam Meiraba Luwang, Satish Kumar Karunakaran, Pranav Rao Gandham and Rohan Gurbani, all registering wins. India haven’t won a gold medal here since Saina Nehwal did it in 2008.
The team was led by Luwang, who came into the tournament as the seventh seed, was up against Romania’s Teodor Cioroboiu. The talented youngster was expected to have an easy win and he had exactly that as he bested his opponent 21-4, 21-3 in just 15 minutes.
His fellow shuttler Satish Kumar Karunakaran didn’t need to break any sweat as well as he also won 21-6, 21-5 against Uganda’s Samuel Wasswa. Apart from him, Nagpur’s Rohan Gurbani and Telangana’s Pranav Rao Gandham also showed authority to come out victorious.
While Gandham crushed Armenia’s Arman Vardanyan 21-10, 21-6 in his first-round match, Gandham, who is also the reigning U-17 boys singles national champion, hardly had to push for his 16-minute win against Latvia’s Alens Zandovskis that saw him win in straight games.
India had seen young Lakshya Sen winning the bronze medal in the last edition but the yellow metal has still been eluding the nation since Nehwal had last won it back in 2008 by beating Sayaka Sato.