India got their BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships campaign off to a flying start after beating the USA 5-0 on the opening day in Yogjakarta, Indonesia. The Indian team conceded only one game in five matches – men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles – on Monday.
The mixed doubles pairing of Dhruv Kapila and Mithula UK got things underway with a straight-games victory over Stephen Ding and Cindy Yuan. Dhruv and Mithula won 21-9, 21-18 in 32 minutes. Junior world No 2 Lakshya Sen then coasted past Yuteng Wu 21-11 21-11 in just 20 minutes, before Purva Barve put the tie beyond USA’s reach with a hard-fought 21-17, 24-22 win over Bianca Tam.
Kapila and his men’s doubles partner Krishna Prasad Garaga were then made to work by Ricky Liuzhou and Cadmus Yeo before coming through 21-19, 22-24, 21-18 victors. Finally, Rutaparna Panda and Mithula beat Breanna Chi and Tam 21-18, 21-17 in 28 minutes to complete the rout.
India thereby topped their group, which also includes Sweden, Hungary and Australia. India will next take on Hungary and Australia on Tuesday before their final match-up against Sweden on Wednesday.