Taipei Open: Manraj, Mansi, Raghu crash out in second round as Indian singles hope falters

Taipei, May 6 (IANS) India’s young badminton contingent endured a disappointing outing at the Taipei Open Super 300 tournament on Tuesday, as none of the singles players managed to progress beyond the qualification rounds into the main draw.

Despite flashes of promise, the Indian challenge in both men’s and women’s singles fizzled out in the second round of qualifiers. Manraj Singh, Raghu Mariswamy, and Mansi Singh, all of whom began their campaigns with spirited opening-round victories, fell short in their respective next matches.

Manraj Singh, Raghu Mariswamy and Mansi Singh showed early promise with opening-round wins in the singles qualification but fell short in their respective second-round matches.

Among the closest results came in Manraj Singh’s second-round clash against Malaysia’s Tan Jia Jie. Manraj looked in control early, taking the first game 21-9. However, he lost his rhythm in a fiercely contested battle that stretched to the wire, eventually losing 21-9, 19-21, 20-22.

Raghu Mariswamy, who had started the day with a strong comeback win over Macau’s Pui Pang Fong (14-21, 21-16, 21-14), was unable to carry that momentum forward. He fell in straight games to Indonesia’s Moh Zaki Ubaidillah, 16-21, 17-21, despite a valiant effort to stay in the rallies.

In the women’s singles, Mansi Singh began her campaign on a winning note, edging out Chinese Taipei’s Tsai Hsin-Pei in a tight three-game affair (22-20, 14-21, 21-17). But her hopes were dashed in the second round, where she was outclassed by Thailand’s rising star Pitchamon Opatniputh, going down 17-21, 10-21 in a one-sided encounter.

India’s woes didn’t end there. Aryamann Tandon, who pushed Malaysia’s Kok Jing Hong to the limit in the first game (27-25), faded in the next two to lose 27-25, 10-21, 8-21. Mithun Manjunath too couldn't hold on after winning the first game against Tan Jia Jie, eventually falling 21-17, 19-21, 9-21 in a hard-fought three-game match.

The women’s singles qualifiers saw further setbacks. Isharani Baruah produced one of the more entertaining matches of the day, stretching Thailand’s Pitchamon to three games before losing narrowly: 7-21, 23-21, 22-24. It was a match that could have gone either way, but Isharani was unable to close it out in the decider despite a brave fightback.

Meanwhile, Ira Sharma was unable to match the pace and placement of local player Chen Su Yu, going down 7-21, 18-21. Shreya Lele, facing Japan’s Sorano Yoshikawa, also exited early with a 14-21, 16-21 loss.

--IANS

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