Four Indians – three men and one woman – reached the quarterfinals of the singles draws of the India Junior International Grand Prix in Pune on Friday. Fifth seed Kartikey Gulshan Kumar, unseeded Kiran George, and qualifier Rahul Bharadwaj BM made it to the last eight in the men’s singles, while Purva Barve was the lone Indian representative in the women’s side.
Kumar, the second-ranked Indian junior, had an easy outing against Singapore’s Jia Wei Joel Koh in the second round, beating him 21-19, 21-11 in 31 minutes. George got the better of compatriot and Indian junior No 4 Arintap Das Gupta in straight games too – 21-18, 21-7 – in just 27 minutes, while Bharadwaj beat eighth seed Takuma Obayashi of Japan 21-17, 21-12 in 36 minutes. Bharadwaj faces a tough quarterfinal opponent on Saturday in second seed Ruttanapak Oupthong of Thailand.
As for Barve, it will have to be seen how many miles she’s got in her legs on Saturday considering she has been through two back-to-back three-gamers on Friday to reach the quarters. She first came from behind to beat China’s Yaxin Wei 18-21, 21-19, 21-19 in 54 minutes, before being stretched to three games again by Singapore’s Ming Hui Lim, beating her 21-14, 19-21, 21-13 in 45 minutes.
There was a major upset in the women’s draw in the form of second seed Aakarshi Kashyap, who was beaten in straight games by Singapore’s Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi 24-22, 21-17. Sixth seed Ira Sharma was also beaten by Korea’s Ga Eun Park in straight games in the second round, while seventh seed Vaishnavi Jakka Reddy’s campaign was over in the first round itself after losing to China’s Zhou Meng in three games.