Govind shuttles into quarterfinal
Kerala boy overcomes topseeded Dhruv Rawat to make his intentions clear
NEWDELHI: The odds were stacked against him but Kerala’s Govind Krishna defied them all and beat top-seeded Dhruv Rawat (Uttarakhand) in straight games inside 26 minutes to enter the boys’ singles quarter-final in the badminton competition at the inaugural Khelo India School Games at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday. Having recovered from a wrist injury that kept him away from the courts for two weeks, Govind played without inhibition against the Almora boy ranked 30 slots above him at No 3 in the Badminton Association of India boys U-19 rankings.
Besides the rankings, Govind Krishna did not let either the cold or the draught or the bright lights in the stadium affect his composure. He quickly deciphered that Dhruv Rawat was playing under some pressure and was unable to bring his A game to the court. He played his game, mixing up his strokes to often catch the topseeded played on the wrong foot.
Arunachal’s wild card entrant Laa Takum, who trains at the Prakash Padukone Academy in Bangalore, overcame a slight distraction in the final stages of his contest with R Vikas Prabhu to become the other unseeded players to book a berth in the boys’ quarter-final.
Results: Boys singles (2nd Rd): Govind Krishna (Ker) bt (1) Dhruv Rawat (U’khand) 21-18, 21-15; Koya Sai Charan (Tel) bt Anush Rav Garg (Hry) 21-11, 21-; Laa Takum (Arunachal) bt R Vikas Prabhu (TN) 21-9, 24-22. Aakash Yadav (UP) beat Ranjan Yadav (UP) 19-21, 2112, 21-8; K Sathish Kumar (TN) bt R Pranay (AP) 15-21, 21-8, 21-11; Maisnam Meiraba (Man) bt Tejas Kallokar (Kar) 21-14, 21-12; Rohan Gurbani (Mah) bt Jayant Rana (Hry) 21-13, 2-17; (2) Amit Rathore (MP) bt Arjun Rehani (Del) 2321, 22-20.
Girls singles (2nd Rd): Malvika Bansod (Mah) bt Varsha Venkatesh (Ke) 21-8, 2-11; Mansi Singh (UP) bt Nikita (Hry) 2116, 17-21, 21-11; Unnati Bisht (U’khand) bt Debahuti Lahon (Asm) 21-10, 21-8; Trisha Hegde (Kar) bt Tanishka Deshpande (Mah) 21-16, 21-18; Amolika Singh (UP) bt Prerna Alvekar (Mah) 2117, 21-19; Alfiya Basari (Kar) bt Anushka (Raj) 21-19, 21-19; Aashi Rawat (UP) bt T Kavia Rasi (TN) 21-7, 2-18; Aakarshi Kashyap (C’garh) bt K Vennalsairi (AP ) 21-6, 2-15.