Sameer stuns Jolly; Vaishnavi advances

 The local lad did not disappoint the gathering during the initial stages but Sameer brought a completely different style of play from the second game to have his opponent in a quandary.

Prakash seemed rusty during practice but once play began, he moved swiftly and showed his class with accurate drops from the backcourt. His aggressive approach twined with delicate drops forced his opponent to take a defensive position right through the first game that Prakash won 21-17.

A visibly angry Sameer played aggressor from then on and the ploy worked. Shots went searing to the left and the deft touches were angled to the right as Sameer took the second game 21-11, and kept the momentum going in the decider as well.

In girls’ under-16, local lass Vaishnavi Iyer proved a force to reckon with, downing eighth seed Rituparna Das of West Bengal 21-11, 21-16.

Results (pre-quarterfinals, prefix denotes seeding): U-19: Boys’ singles: 1-Sumeet Reddy B (AP) bt Sarang Lakhani (Mah) 21-15, 21-16; 5-Hirakjyot Niyog (Alh) bt Sri Teja K (AP) 21-12, 21-18; 4-Sai Praneeth B (AP) bt Manu Atri (UP) 21-13, 21-13; 7-Ajay Kumar K (AP) bt Bob Sharma (Pun) 21-18, 21-18; Prannoy HS (Ker) bt Ankit Arora (Raj) 21-14, 21-16; Sameer Verma (MP) bt 3-Prakash Jolly (Kar) 17-21, 21-11, 21-13; Eshan Naqvi (Mah) bt Rohit Yadav C (AP) 13-21, 22-20, 21-19; 2-Nanda Gopal K (AP) bt Anvesh V (AP) 21-6, 21-9.

Doubles: Prannoy HS/ Sumeet Reddy B bt Prathap Menon/ Sunil Varma D (Kar) 21-19, 21-14; Eshan Naqvi (Mah)/ Manu Atri (UP) bt Bob Sharma (Pun)/ Prakash Jolly (Kar) 21-14, 21-18.

Girls’ singles: 1-Sindhu PV (AP) bt Ruthvika Shivani G (AP) 21-17, 21-14; Vaishnavi K Iyer (Kar) bt 8-Rituparna Das (WB) 21-11, 21-16; Kanthi P (TN) bt 4-Sudha Kalyani (AP) 21-8, 12-21, 21-17; 6-Sara Naqvi (UP) bt Sindhu Bharadwaj (Kar) 21-13, 21-18; 7-Me-ghana (AP) bt Anagha Unni (Kar) 21-14, 21-14; 3-Riya Pillai (Mah) bt Arz-oo Thakur (HP) 21-18, 21-17; Arathi Sara Sunil (Ker) bt Reshma Karthik (Kar) 21-19 21-16; Samhita JV (AP) bt Khushbu Patel (MP) 21-13, 21-11.

Doubles: Maneesha/ Sindhu PV (AP) bt Ashwitha R/ R Rishika (Kar) 21-16, 21-11; Gauri Ghate/ Sanyogita Ghorpade bt Poorvisha S Ram/ Sangeetha Udupa (Kar) 21-9, 21-9.
U-16: Boys’ singles: 1-Pratul Joshi (MP) bt Chaitanya KP (AP) 21-10, 21-12; 5-Khaja Jaleel Ahmed (AP) bt Gangadhara Rao (AP) 22-20, 21-13; Varun Sarode (Mah) bt 3-Sri Teja K (AP) 27-25, 21-19; Arun George (Ker) bt Rupinder Singh (Chg) 21-15, 23-25, 21-16; Saharsh (AP) bt 8-Sudhanshu Medsikar (Mah) 14-21, 21-16, 21-17; Rajas Jawalkar (Kar) bt 4-Trinankur Nag (WB) 21-18, 21-19; 6-Venkatesh B (AP) bt Sai Tanuj M (AP) 21-12, 20-22, 21-11; 2-Rohit Yadav C (AP) bt Kanwal Deep Singh (Chg) 21-10, 21-7.
 Girls’ singles: 1-Anuradha Shrikhande (AIh) bt Daya Elsa Jacob (Ker) 21-15, 21-12; Sara Naqvi (UP) bt Poorvisha S Ram (Kar) 21-16, 21-13; 3-Sikky Reddy N (AP) bt Prajakta Sawant (AIh) 21-14, 21-16; 6-Jacqueline Rose Kunnath (Kar) bt Minti Kaur (Mah) 21-19, 21-15; 8-Saili Rane (Mah) bt Leela Lakshmi R (AP) 21-11, 7-21, 21-19; 4-Vaishali Baria (Alh) bt Uttara Prakash (Kar) 21-23, 21-17, 21-12; 5-Thulasi PC (Ker) bt Tanvi Lad (Mah) 21-8, 21-11; 2-Sindhu PV (AP) bt Sanyogita Ghorpade (Mah) 21-11, 21-18.
Doubles: Poorvisha Ram/ Sangeetha Udupa (Kar) bt 2-Meghana/ Pramada (AP) 21-17, 12-21, 22-20.