Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2022: Unnati Hooda makes winning debut

Top seed Unnati Hooda made an impressive start to her campaign by winning her opening round at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2022 U17 and U15 in Nonthaburi, Thailand on Tuesday.

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In the U17 women's singles round of 64 match, Odisha Open champion Unnati defeated Japan's Misato Sasaki 21-11, 21-5 in just 24 minutes. Unnati will take on Indonesia's Dea Nur Fadilla in the round of 32 match in the Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2022 on Wednesday.

On the other hand, in another U17 women's singles match, Anmol Kharb won both her matches to enter the round of 32. First, she defeated Singapore's Chujei Jennifer 21-11, 21-14, and then defeated Indonesia's Wening Sabrina 21-19, 21-10. Anmol will next play against Ratnacha Sompoch of Thailand on Wednesday.

At the same time, Sampriti Pal fought hard to win against Indonesia's Keira Indriyan in the women's U15 category. While Jiya Rawat lost 21-11 14-21 10-21 to Peeraya Wechawong of Thailand in the women's U17 singles round of 64.

Meanwhile, in men's U15 singles, three Indian players Abhinav Garg, Anish Thoppani, and Mohammad Ali Mir won their respective matches. While Abhinav and Anish won in three games against Thailand's Chinnapat Seangpan and Japan's Mahiro Matsumoto, respectively. On the other hand, Mohammad defeated Sri Lanka's Mihila Jayaweeera 21-19, 21-14. All three of them will play their next match on Wednesday.

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While in the Men's U17 category, Dhruv Negi beat Singapore's Nge Joo Jin 21-19 19-21 21-17 in a close match that lasted 43 minutes. But Ansh Negi lost to Singapore's Shota Natsuka 20-22, 21-16, 12-21. Later on Tuesday, two more Indian badminton players will be in action. In the U17 men's singles section, Neer Nehwal will play against Zi Shun Kat of Singapore. While Bornil Aakash Changmai and Shantipriya Hazarika will also be playing their U15 mixed doubles round of 64 match.