Karnataka’s Aditya R Prakash and Ashwini Ponnappa made it to the quarterfinals of the boys and girls under-19 singles events respectively in the sixth Union Bank of India junior National-ranking badminton tournament here on Thursday.

Aditya, the fifth seed, had to fight off the occasional good run from Uttar Pradesh’s Anurag Sharma to register a 21-11, 21-17 win at the Karnataka Badminton Association’s K Raheja stadium.

Ashwini defeated Maharashtra’s Pradnya Gadre 21-14, 25-23 to enter the last eight stage.

Aditya did not really have to sweat that much. A strong smash is his strength and he used it to good effect. However, mistakes at crucial juntures let his rival catch up. A few dubious calls by the umpire set Aditya back, but he nevertheless caught up in style with his smashing prowess.

There was an improved show from Anurag in the second game. What stood out was his court coverage and that helped him take a 10-7 lead.

Aditya was not attacking much till then, but he began to do so and slowly inched his way back into contention.
Having equalised and got the lead back, Aditya resorted to half-smashes and caught his opponent napping repeatedly at the net. Aditya never let the momentum go and went on to win in straight games.
All top seeds, Andhra Pradesh players Guru Sai Dutt RMV (U-19) and Sai Praneeth B (U-16) in the boys and Maharashtra’s Arundhati Pantawane (U-19) and AP’s Sikki Reddy (U-16) in the girls section, advanced.
Earlier, in the girls under-19 pre-quarterfinals, Karnataka’s Ankita Ashoka scored over Shruti J of AP 21-14, 22-20.
Results:  Boys: U-19 (pre-quarterfinals): Gurusai Dutt R M V (AP) bt Ajay Kumar K (AP) 21-4, 21-13; Saurabh Verma (MP) bt Vikranth Kumar (AP) 21-4, 21-15; Oscar Bansal (Chd) bt Aravind S (AP) 21-11, 22-20; Tarun Kona (AP) bt Suraj P H (Ker) 21-15, 21-8; Aditya R Prakash (Kar) bt Anurag Sharma (UP) 21-11, 21-17; Sumeet Reddy B (AP) bt Mayank Gole (Mah) 21-10, 18-21, 21-18; Sai Praneeth B (AP) bt Kapil Dinesh (Guj) 21-10, 21-10; Arun Nandaluri (AI) bt Nandagopal K (AP) 21-15, 21-18.

Boys U-16 (pre-quarterfinals): Sai Praneeth B (AP) bt  Venkatesh B (AP) 21-14, 21-14; Bhaskar Chakraborty (Del) bt Chirag L U  (Kar) 21-17, 21-11; Anurag Thakkar (MP) bt Manikandan C R (TN) 21-15, 21-10; Sunjith S (Ker) bt Saharsh (AP) 21-12, 21-12; Sarang Lakhani (Mah) bt Vikas Harsha P (AP) 22-20, 21-19; Prannoy H S (Ker) bt Aswin (TN) 21-6, 21-11; Sameer Verma (MP) bt Ajay Patil (Kar) 21-9, 28-26; Hirak Jyoti Neog (Asm) bt Jayasimha Reddy (AP) 21-12, 21-10.

First round: Sai Praneeth B (AP) bt Shashank Menon (Kar) 21-8, 21-9; Venkatesh B (AP) bt Abhishek V (TN) 21-12, 21-18; Chirag L U (Kar) bt Bishal Das (Mah) 15-21, 22-20, 21-18; Bhaskar Chakraborty (Del) bt Shiv Nayak (Kar) 21-17, 21-10; Anurag Thakkar (MP) bt Samit Dandavate (Mah) 21-7, 21-9; Manikandan C R (TN) w/o Bob Sharma (WB); Sunjith S (Ker) bt Vishal Dev Reddy (AP) 15-21, 21-14, 21-18; Saharsh (AP) bt Vinay Hari (Kar) 21-15, 21-15; Vikas Harsha P (AP) bt Pratul Joshi (MP) 21-16, 21-12; Sarang Lakhani (Mah) bt Suraj R N (Kar) 21-15, 21-15; Aswin (TN) bt Sai Praneeth G (Kar) 15-21, 26-24, 21-17; Prannoy H S (Ker) bt Santosh Ravuri (AP) 21-8, 21-9; Ajay Patil (Kar) bt Siddharth Rajan (TN) 21-16, 21-11; Sameer Verma (MP) bt Sudarshan A K (TN) 21-16, 21-17; Jayasimha Reddy (AP) bt Srikanth K (AP) 21-14, 21-12; Hirak Jyoti Neog (Asm) bt Tejas Shah (Guj) 21-7, 21-10.
Girls: U-19 (pre-quarterfinals): Arundhati Pantawane (Mah) bt Vijeta Bhargav (MP) 21-7, 21-19; Ankita Ashoka (Kar) bt Shruti J (AP) 21-14, 22-20; Sikki Reddy N (AP) bt Monisha Vinayak (Kar) 21-18, 21-12; Mudra Dahinje (Mah) bt Vaishali Baria (Guj) 21-11, 21-14; Ashwini Ponnappa (Kar) bt Pradnya Gadre (Mah) 21-14, 25-23; Nischitha G M (Kar) Thulasi P C (Ker) 14-21, 23-21, 21-18; Kadambari Chedda (Mah) bt Trupti Lavanya (MP) 21-17, 14-21, 21-13; Ruth Misha V (Kar) bt Anuradha Shrikhande (Mah) 21-13, 21-16.

U-16 (pre-quarterfinals): Pooja V Anvekar (Kar) bt Akansha Pandey (MP) 21-4, 21-13; Samhitha (AP) bt Sindhu Bharadwaj (Kar) 19-21, 21-12, 21-16; Minti Kaur (Mah) bt Riya Sarkar (WB) 21-16, 21-16; Saee Purandare (Mah) bt  Kalyani Limaye (Mah) 21-16, 21-12; Manisha (AP) bt Pramada (AP) 21-15, 21-7; Riya Pillai (Mah) bt Anagha Unni (Kar) 21-14, 21-12; Sindhu P V (AP) bt Krupali (AP) 21-14, 21-6; Suneri (TN) bt Reshma Karthik (Kar) 21-16, 21-18.