Santander (Spain): The Indian team comfortably beat Slovenia 5-0 in its fourth and final Group B tie at the World Junior Mixed Team Badminton Championships 2022, here on Wednesday.
India finished second in the Group B table with three points — having beaten Iceland, Australia and Slovenia. They only lost to group toppers China, the most successful team in the tournament with 13 titles, in their second group tie on the opening day.
The Indian team will now play playoff matches against second-placed teams from other groups for the best possible finish in the 9-16 bracket.
The mixed doubles pair of Vignesh Thathineni and Srinidhi Naryanan began the day by defeating Ziga Podgoresk and Spela Alic 21-11, 21-9.
Ayush Shetty then registered a 21-5, 21-5 win over Kevin Lin Lenarcic in men’s singles before Nicholas Raj and Tushar Suveer wrapped up the tie with a 21-15, 21-14 victory over Anel Hac Gyorkos and Mark Korosa in the men’s doubles.
With the 14-year-old Unnati Hooda rested from the tie, Rakshita Ramraj beat Anja Jordan 21-4, 21-4 in the women’s singles. The women’s doubles pair Shreya Balaji and Srindhi Naryanan completed the rout with a 21-9, 21-6 win over Nika Bedic and Kim Matovic.
India will play the second-placed team from Group A, either last edition’s champions Indonesia or Malaysia, in their next match.
The Indian team finished in 12th place in 2019 and it will be hoping to improve that record this time around. India’s best result at the meet was a fourth-place finish in the 2008 edition.
–IANS
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