Ashmita Chaliha edged past compatriot Unnati Hooda, while Sankar Muthusamy defeated Rohan Midha of England in the first round of the Thailand Open Super 500 qualifiers in Bangkok Tuesday.
Ashmita defeated Unnati 21-16, 13-21, 21-19 to secure her place in the qualification playoff. Unnati will later pair up with Palak Arora in their women’s doubles qualification match against Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Napha Samart of Thailand.
Meanwhile, Malvika Bansod, in her women’s singles qualification battle, gave a walkover to Chinese shuttler Gao Fang Jie.
In men’s singles, Sankar, the World Junior Championships silver medallist, needed 30 minutes to get better of Rohan in straight games (21-12, 21-15). The Indian youngster will face Sholeh Aidil of Malaysia in the qualification playoff.
Later today, world no. 42 Sameer Verma, meanwhile, will take on Malaysian qualifier Yeoh Seng Zoe, while Meiraba Luwang Maisnam will be up against Leong Jun Hao of Malaysia.
In an all-Indian action, Kiron George and Kartikey Gulshan Kumar will face off for a berth in the finals. Harshit Aggarwal and Tanya Hemanth are the other Indian shuttlers who will be in action in the qualifiers today.