Indian mixed doubles pair Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto advanced to the second round of the 2022 Taipei Open badminton championship after beating Israeli pair of Misha Zilberman and Svetlana Zilberman in Taipei on Tuesday.
The Indian duo, 47th in the badminton world rankings, recorded a tremendous 21-15, 21-8 victory over the world No. 95 Israeli pair of Misha Zilberman and Svetlana Zilberman.
Both teams quickly left the blocks and were tied 7-7 after the first rallies. However, the Indian pair increased their intensity to take a 1-0 lead.
Ishaan and Tanisha went sixth and used the momentum of game two to seal the match in just 26 minutes. They will face one of two unseeded local pairs in the second round of the BWF Super 300 badminton tournament.
The duo of Ishaan and Tanisha 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 passed the first round.
The other two Indian badminton players competing that day lost their matches in the qualifying round.
In the men’s singles, Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian fought hard but lost to Chinese Taipei’s Liao Jhuo Fu 17-21, 23-21, 17-21 in a match that lasted one hour and two minutes. In women’s singles, Keyura Mopati lost to Indonesian Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi 13-21, 14-21 in 33 minutes.
London 2012 bronze medalist Saina Nehwal, seeded fourth in women’s singles, withdrew from the tournament at the eleventh hour. Double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu also decided not to take part in the event.
Meanwhile, Parupalli Kashyap, the third seed in the men’s singles, will play his first round match on Wednesday.
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