CHENGDU: Lakshya Rajesh and Diksha Sudhakar reached the pre-quarterfinals in the girls' singles with contrasting wins while Jagsher Singh Khangurra made the same stage in the boys' event on day two of the Badminton Asia U-17 & U-15 Championships, here.
In the U-17 girls' singles, Lakshya eased past Chinese Taipei's Kuan Yi Lin 21-17, 21-11, while Diksha produced a strong comeback to beat China's Luo Ya Ru 17-21, 21-16, 21-11 in her match on Wednesday..
Among the boys, Jagsher impressed with a commanding 21-14, 21-17 victory over China's Zhang Yu Feng..
India’s doubles contingent also looked sharp..
The girls’ doubles pair Deepak Raj Aditi and P. Vriddhi overcame Malaysia’s Sue Mei Teoh/Zi Qing Wan 22-20, 21-12, while the U-15 mixed duo Hemanth Sri Sammetla and Sharayu Ranjane cruised past fifth seed Singapore pairing Ng Yu Ze/Loo Kit Rei Chara 21-9, 21-11 to move into the Round of 16.
Anvi Rathore, Wazir Singh, and SL Dhakshan Sugumaran continued their winning start to the tournament, joined by the top-seeded girls’ singles player, Shaina Manimuthu, who registered a 21-6, 21-10 victory against Malaysia's Jing Er Tan.
India had won a gold and a bronze in 2024, and one gold, one silver, and one bronze in 2023, with both editions taking place in Chengdu.
A 36-member squad is fighting for silverware across two age categories this time around.