Paris: India’s mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto began their Badminton World Championships campaign with a comprehensive win over Irish duo Joshua Magee and Moya Ryan here on Wednesday.
The 16th seeded India duo, who received a bye in the opening round, registered a straight-game victory over the Irish pair with the scoreline 21-11, 21-16 to move in to the third round, where they will meet fifth seed Tand Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong.
The Indian pair delivered a dominant performance in the opening game, winning it comfortably 21-11. In the second game, they carried their momentum forward, establishing a 12-8 lead. An unforced error from the Irish duo helped the Indians extend their advantage to 13-9.
Despite the setback, the Irish pair showed resilience, putting together a series of points to close the gap. However, the Indian team maintained their composure and held onto a four-point lead at 19-15.
The Irish continued to fight, narrowing the deficit to 16-19, but the Indians quickly regained control, earning match point shortly after. They made no mistake in converting it, sealing a straight-games victory and wrapping up the match in their favour.
Earlier, Chinese top seeds Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping were knocked out of the mixed doubles tournament, as they were beaten in three games by Denmark’s Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje 21–14, 13–21, 18–21.
Christiansen and Boje have seen their world ranking tumble over the past year, as Christiansen has just returned from a one-year suspension for whereabouts failures. But they have made their mark here in Paris, knocking out Feng and Huang.
Later in the day, another mixed Indian pair, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, will be in action for a place in the third round. They will take on fourth-seed Malaysians Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei.
The unseeded Indian duo cruised through their opening Round of 64 match, beating Macau China’s Leong Iok Chong and Weng Chi Ng 18-21, 21-16, 21-18 in a 47-minute battle on Tuesday.
After registering wins in their respective round-one fixtures, PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy will also take the court for their Round of 32 games on Wednesday
Sindhu will be up against Malaysia’s Karupathevan Letshanaa while Prannoy will have to tussle with the world No. 2 Dane Anders Antonsen.
(IANS)
