All posts tagged: fancied

India Open badminton: MR Arjun seeks a turnaround in fortunes, with a younger, fiery partner in Hariharan beating fancied Malaysians | Badminton News

India Open badminton: MR Arjun seeks a turnaround in fortunes, with a younger, fiery partner in Hariharan beating fancied Malaysians | Badminton News

Published by Webster

At 14-14 in the second game, Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ei Yi were starting to take control against India’s MR Arjiun and Hariharan Amsakarunan. It would have triggered flashbacks for Arjun, especially. The 28-year-old, during his stint with Dhruv Kapila, came up against Ong-Teo five times and never won. Arjun and Hariharan had won the first game here, but the tide was starting to turn. What followed was a breathtaking rally of men’s doubles badminton, a rare lengthy exchange with all four players at each other… before Hariharan hit a smash that landed on the top of the tape and rolled over dead on the other side. The Indians, ranked 62, went on to win the match against the former top 10 duo, 21-15, 21-18 in 36 minutes. The luck factor wasn’t lost on Arjun. “I was telling Hari when we were knocking before the match, when I got like 2-3 lucky net cords, I think today’s a lucky day for us, and eventually that happened on court, and at a crucial stage …

Ayhika Mukherjee and Manika Batra combined to help Indian women’s Table Tennis team beat fancied Korea in Asian meet | Sport-others News

Published by Webster

India’s Ayhika Mukherjee was back to her giant-slaying ways, beating World No. 8 Shin Yubin and World No. 16 Jeon Jihee to give India a phenomenal win over second seeds & World No. 3 Korea in the quarterfinal of the women’s team event at the Asian TT Championships at Astana Kazakhstan on Tuesday. India’s Golden Girl Manika Batra too stunned Jihee to give the unheralded team a place in the semifinal where they take on World No. 2 Japan. Getting a direct place in the quarterfinal courtesy of their Olympic quarterfinal finish and individual rankings, India were the underdogs against Olympic bronze medallists Korea but like national coach Massimo Costantini told The Indian Express: “This Indian team isn’t scared of playing against world’s best”. It’s this belief that Ayhika portrayed when she played the opening match of the tie against Korea’s best player, 20-year-old Yubin, who not so long ago, reached the semifinal of the Paris Olympics. In a stunning blitz, Ayhika twice parried off Shin’s comebacks, to win 11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-7. Ayhika …