Kazakhstan International Challenge: The 17-year-old Indian star shuttler Anmol Kharb on Thursday reached the quarterfinals of the Kazakhstan International Challenge badminton tournament after beating Nurani Rattu Azzahra of UAE in straight games 21-11, 21-7 in a match that went for 40 minutes.Anmol’s journey through the tournament was nothing short of spectacular. With each match, she seemed to elevate her game, leaving her opponents in awe. Taking the lead of 11-3 in the first game Kharb displayed a range of shots after a dominating first game victory.
In the second game, Kharb gave no chance to her opponent as she relentlessly played attacking body smashes and kept Nurani on the defence. Kharb with her extreme control of drop shots on the net kept Nurani busy before taking the match by straight set games win.
Earlier, Kharb defeated her countrymate Malvika Bansod on Wednesday to enter the pre-quarterfinals. Ranked 333 in the world, Anmol defeated Malvika in straight games 21-13, 22-20.
Anmol reached the main draw of the event after winning her two qualifying round matches against local girl Kamila Smagulova and Cassey Rynn Rompog of Malaysia.
Anmol is set to face Sorano Yoshikawa of Japan in the quarterfinal.
But Anmol wasn’t the only star shining bright for India. Joining her in the quarterfinals were four more talented shuttlers in women’s singles, each making their mark in their own right.
Anupama Upadhyaya’s thrilling comeback against fifth-seeded Tereza Svabikova after losing the first game 18-21 and won the next two games 21-14, 21-14 to move to the next round, while Devika Sihag’s dominant performance against Keisha Fatimah Azzahra highlighted her power and precision. She got better of fourth seed Keisha Fatimah Azzahra of Azerbaijan in straight games 21-12, 21-12. She will face Anupama in the next round.
Meanwhile, Ishani Baruah defeated Tiffany Ho (21-10, 21-14) of Australia in straight games while Tanya Hemanth defeated Ksenia Polikarpova of Israel (21-11, 21-18) setting the stage for an all-Indian showdown in the quarterfinals.
