Tanvi Sharma, Unnati Hooda lead India’s charge at BWF World Juniors in Guwahati

“Now is the time to prove themselves,” India doubles coach Ivan Sozonov told TOI from Guwahati after another fulfilling day on the court for the hosts at the BWF World Junior Championships on Tuesday. And the young Indian shuttlers proved their mettle on Day 2 of the individual events at the National Centre of Excellence, prominent among them being medal hopefuls Tanvi Sharma and Unnati Hooda, with Rakshitha Sree R joining them later in starting a winning Worlds campaign for India in girls’ singles. Thereafter, all four Indian boys’ singles competitors — Rounak Chauhan, Suryaksh Rawat, Lalthazuala Hmar, and Gnana Dattu TT — also sailed through to the next round. Top-seeded Tanvi thrashed Poland’s Wiktoria Kaletka 15-2, 15-1 in just 11 minutes, while eighth seed Unnati eased to a 15-8, 15-9 win over Hong Kong’s Liu Hoi Anna. Rakshitha overcame the challenge of Lucy Yang of Canada 15-5, 15-9. 11th seed Rounak defeated Sri Lanka’s Thisath Rupathunga 15-3, 15-6; 15th seed Suryaksh beat Yigitcan Erol of Turkiye 15-5, 15-8; while Lalthazuala got the better of Rylan Tan of the USA 15-11, 15-5.

A few hours later, Gnana Dattu joined his teammates in the round of 32, beating Brazil’s Joaquim Mendonca 15-10, 15-13. The only disappointment for the hosts in the singles was the defeat of Asian Junior Championships bronze medallist Vennala K, who could not find her rhythm against fifth seed Tonrug Saeheng of Thailand and lost 6-15, 5-15 in the second round. But coach Sozonov cautioned that the real competition in a Worlds event begins when the last 32 take the courts. “It’s tough to predict because there are a lot of good players,” said the Russian. “And a lot of the teams don’t bring their best players for the team events. So, I observed that the quality of play is getting better with every round of the individual events.” The tough challenge before the youngsters was evident in some of the upsets on Tuesday, with Indonesia’s Thalita Wiryawan, seeded seventh, the highest girls’ singles player to be knocked out by Chinese Taipei’s Shu-Yu Wen, who fought back for a 12-15, 15-7, 15-8 win in 34 minutes. In the mixed doubles, C Lalramasanga and Taarini Suri scripted a dominating 15-12, 15-5 win, while 14th seeds Bhavya Chhabra and Vishakha Toppo had to struggle before winning 15-4, 13-15, 15-5 in the second round. In girls’ doubles, Mansa and Gayatri Rawat advanced with a 15-3, 15-5 win over Alya Elghandour and Fatema Rabie of Egypt, while Aanya Bisht and Angel Punera got the better of Poland’s Wiktoria Kaletka and Olga Szwarnowiecka 15-12, 15-11. In boys’ doubles, sixth seeds Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu defeated Andrej Macek and Andrej Suchy of Slovakia 15-7, 15-6 in the second round. But later in the day, Bhavya and Sumith AR saved a match point but could not avoid a 12-15, 15-10, 16-14 defeat against the Danish combination of Philip Boe and Salomon Thomasen — the second loss for India on the day.