Taipei: India’s mixed doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto advanced to the second round of the Taipei Open 2022 badminton championship after beating the Israeli pair of Misha Zilberman and Svetlana Zilberman here, on Tuesday.
The Indian duo, 47th in the badminton world rankings, registered a formidable 21-15, 21-8 win over the world No. 95 Israeli pair of Misha Zilberman and Svetlana Zilberman.
Both teams were quick to get off the blocks and were tied at 7-7 after early exchanges. However, the Indian pair upped their intensity to take a 1-0 lead.
Ishaan and Tanisha, seeded sixth, rode the momentum in the second game to seal the match in just 26 minutes. They will take on one of the two unseeded local pairs in the second round of the BWF Super 300 badminton tournament.
The duo of Ishaan and Tanisha had made a promising start to the year by winning the Syed Modi International BWF Super 300 title in January. However, this is the first time since May that they have gone past the first round.
The other two Indian badminton players competing on the day lost their matches in the qualifying round.
In the men’s singles, Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian fought hard but lost to Liao Jhuo Fu of Chinese Taipei 17-21, 23-21, 17-21 in a match that lasted one hour and two minutes. In the women’s singles, Keyura Mopati lost to Indonesia’s Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi 13-21, 14-21 in 33 minutes.
London 2012 bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, seeded fourth in the women’s singles, withdrew from the tournament at the eleventh hour. Two-time Olympic medallist P.V Sindhu has also decided to skip the event.
Meanwhile, Parupalli Kashyap, seeded third in the men’s singles, will play his first-round match on Wednesday.
–IANS
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