Elina, Dulali redeem hosts
Bangladesh's women shuttlers have saved some blushes of the organisers a day after the male shuttlers flopped in the Yonex-Sunrise Bangladesh Open Badminton Challenge at the Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Indoor Stadium.
National champions Elina Sultana beat Amita Giri of Nepal in straight sets (21-14, 21-4) yesterday to move into the second round of women's singles. Dulali Halder, too, advanced after she beat Lalita Dahiya of India in straight sets (23-21, 23-21).
Elina, who won her second national title beating Shapla Aktar in November last year, said she was eyeing the semifinals despite the fact that there are much better players from India and Malaysia taking part in this event.
“Due to the South Asian Games camp, which has been going on for the last three months, we didn't have to take any extra training. However, there is no alternative to match practice which we didn't have since the national event last year,” said Elina, who is attending the SA Games camp from home.
“It won't be easy to reach the semifinals, but I would try my best to win the next three matches so that I can reach the last four,” added Elina,who will take on Russia's Ksenia Polikarpova in the second round today. Dulali, meanwhile, will be up against the top seed, USA's Iris Wang today.
Two other Bangladeshi shuttlers -- Rehana Parvin and Brishti Khatun -- however surrendered meekly against their respective opponents in the first round matches.
Rehana, though, made up for the singles defeat by pairing up with Lal Chand and beating Nepal's Bishnu Kanwal and Amita Giri pair over three sets (21-15, 18-21, 22-20) in the first round of the mixed doubles. Another Bangladeshi pair to advance to the next round was the Shapla and Ahsan Habib Parash – both former national No. 1s – as they beat Nepal's Sajan Tamrakan and Sichhya Shreshtha pair in straight sets (21-9, 21-12).
Five Bangladeshi male shuttlers, including two who got walkovers in the first round on Tuesday, were eliminated from the singles events yesterday.
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