US Open Badminton: Trisa-Gayatri’s winning start, Raunak Chauhan reaches the main draw; Now eyes on Srikanth and Anmol Kharb

Fullerton (USA): The Indian women’s doubles pair of Trisa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand have entered the second round of the US Open Super 300 badminton tournament by defeating Spain’s Paula Lopez and Lucia Rodriguez in a tough three-game match. Trisa, who was making a comeback after recovering from an ankle injury, along with her partner Gayatri defeated the Spanish pair 21-12, 14-21, 21-13 in the first round match which lasted 51 minutes.

This Indian pair will now face Japan’s Sumire Nakade and Miyu Takahashi in the second round. Raunak Chauhan performed brilliantly in the men’s singles qualifiers and made it to the main draw. He first defeated Enogat Roy of France 21-19, 21-16 and then advanced by defeating Kuo Kuan Lin of Chinese Taipei 13-21, 21-14, 21-10. Chauhan now faces compatriot S. Shankar Muthusamy will challenge Subramaniam. Trisa and Gayatri started the match strong and took an 8-3 lead in the first game. The Spanish pair tried to make a comeback and tried to reduce the gap by scoring four consecutive points but the Indian pair again dominated and took a lead of 17-11 and won the game easily. In the second game, Paula and Lucia played better and took an 11-7 lead.

The Indian pair gave them a tough challenge but the Spanish pair was successful in keeping the match on par. In the decisive third game, the Indian pair again took a commanding lead of 11-6. The pair maintained their momentum after this and won the match without much trouble.

Fifth seed Kidambi Srikanth will face his countryman Sanith Dayanand in the first round of men’s singles. Strong participation will also be seen from India in women’s singles. Rakshita Sri Santosh Ramraj, Shriyanshi Valisetty, Anmol Kharb, Devika Sihag, Tanya Hemanth, Akarshi Kashyap and Tanvi Sharma will participate in it.

Also read: IND-A vs ENG-A: In a thrilling match, England A defeated India A by 5 wickets, series leveled at 1-1… now the battle for the final.