Badminton
China Open 2024: Malvika defeats Paris Olympics medalist Gregoria Tunjung
In what was her biggest career win yet, Bansod got better of the world no.7 and fifth seed in straight sets.
Malvika Bansod. (File Photo)
Malvika Bansod of India caused a huge upset at the ongoing BWF Super 1000 China Open tournament, defeating world no.7 and Paris Olympics bronze medalist Gregoria Tunjung in round one of the competition, on Wednesday.
Bansod, coming into this match as the second favorite, defeated the fifth-seeded Indonesian in straight games (26-24, 21-19), registering quite possibly the biggest win of her career yet.
The Indian started the game brilliantly and raced into an 18-12 lead against Tunjung and was all set to take game one but the Indonesian fought back into the game, winning eight of the next ten points and forcing a deuce.
After a long deuce, Bansod eventually emerged as the winner of the first game. She did not let go of her momentum and like the first game, gained a big lead, having five-match-point opportunities.
Tunjung almost saved them all but at the final match point (20-19), Bansod finally managed to win the match and advanced to the next round.
Apart from Bansod, none of the other competing Indians made it past round two, in what was a disappointing outing for India, except Bansod.
Kiran George lost his opening match to Japanese shuttler Kenta Nishimoto despite dominating the first game, ultimately losing 1-2 (21-4, 10-21, 21-23).
Doubles pairing Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand exited in the first round, losing in a tight three-game match against Chinese Taipei duo P. Hseih and E. Hung (21-16, 15-21, 17-21).
The other Indian women's doubles pairing too met with the same fate, with Rutuparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda losing to Chinese Taipei pairing C.H Teng and Chu Yun Yang 1-2 (11-21, 21-16, 11-21).
The mixed doubles duo of Sumeet Reddy and Sikki Reddy also lost their opening game and exited the tournament, losing in straight games to Malaysian duo P.J Lai and K.M Tan (10-21, 16-21).
The other mixed doubles duo of Aadya and Karunakaran also lost to another Malaysian duo T.J Chen and E.W Toh 0-2 (14-21, 11-21).
Aakarshi Kashyap lost her opening match in the women's singles category, losing 2-0 to P.Chiu of Chinese Taipei (15-21, 19-21).
Samiya Imad Farooqui also lost her opening match to Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland, losing in straight sets (9-21, 7-21).
