Clean sweeps by Indians at BWF World Junior Mixed Championships 2017

Indian junior shuttlers have been producing amazing play at the BWF World Junior Mixed Championships 2017 in preliminary rounds with 5-0 wins against USA, Hungary, and Australia in Yogyakarta after India’s coach, Sanjeev Sachdev,  expressed, “we must get a medal”.

Ahead of the championships, with the strong and confident squad in place, team India coach Sanjeev Sachdev signified confidence his team will make to the quarter-finals followed by clean-sweep win against USA on Day 1.  

Day 1

INDIA vs USA

Indians gave the clean sweep over USA, after Dhruv Kapila and Mithula UK outplayed Stephen Ding and Cindy Yuan with 21-9, 21-18 in mixed doubles and seized the first point, followed by prowess young shuttler, Lakshya Sen, the former world no. 1 gave least chances to the opponent Yuteng WU and thrashed himwith 21-11, 21-11.

Having won 2 straight points in the game, team India continued their amazing play and secured the game after Purva Barve's smooth win against Bianca TAM in a neck-neck second game, with 21-17 and 24-22 without losing the confidence in just 30 minutes,.

Started off with the motto of 'getting a medal' in the championship, the Indians took no chance in giving away the point, even after securing their spot into the next rounds, with the men’s doubles tough victory.

The doubles duo Dhruv Kapila and Krishna Prasad stretched the match to the decider after the brief hiccups in the second game and had a comfort win with 21-19, 22-24, 21-18 to give the 4-0 lead for the team. Continuing the dominant performances, the Indian women's doubles pair,  Rutaparna Panda with Mithula UK brought all smiles in the team after their smooth win over Breanna CHI and Bianca TAM with 21-18, 21-17 which led to the 5-0 clean sweep in the game, and made their way to the round 2 of the championship.

Day 2

MATCH 1

INDIA vs HUNGARY

Team India, on day 2, continued their tremendous form and outplayed Hungary in the first game, followed by Australia and made a hat-trick clean sweep victories with 5-0.

In the first game against Hungary, the mixed doubles duo Dhruv Kapila and Mithula UK thrashed Zsombor Dulcz and Kitti Szotak and made a comfortable first victory for the team with 21-7, 21-8 win. While in men's singles, Rahul Bharadwaj had a smooth win against Gergo Pytel with 21-11, 21-13 and boosted the teams confidence with 2-0 in lead.

The team, then seized the game with 3-0, after Ashmita Chaliha's easy win with 21-12, 21-19 against Reka Madarasz in less than 30 .

Team India then made a surprising choice by playing Lakshya Sen, in the men's doubles match alongside Krishna Prasad in their fourth tie. However, the new pair were able to put up a confident fight and eliminated Mate Balint and Zsombor Dulcz in just 19 minutes with 21-7, 21-15 win.

The mixed doubles pair Dhruv Kapila and Mithula UK set the ball rolling for their team's clean sweep 5-0 and final victory in the match with 21-7, 21-8 win against Zsombor Dulcz and Kitti Szotak.

Day 2

MATCH 2

INDIA vs AUSTRALIA

After a thumping victory of 5-0 against Hungary in their earlier game on the same day, team India were off to a superb start against Australia with the mixed doubles pair Rutaparna Panda and SriKrishna Sai Kumar Podile's convincing win against Victoria He and Ying Xiang Lin with 21-12, 21-17 in just 24 minutes.

Seemed confident and composed, Purva Barve outclassed Sasha Lim and secured 2-0 lead for her team, after a quick 17 minute win with 21-5, 21-7.

The men's singles shuttler, Kartikey Gulshan Kumar continued the proceedings with a good combination of defence, tactics and powerful smashes and won in straight sets by virtue of an 21-4, 21-9 against  Chen Teoh and grabbed the match with 3-0 lead.

With the lead of 3-0 on board, the women's doubles duo Rutaparna Panda with Mithula UK did not look back and played some strong game to win 21-10, 21-15 and gave, spectators, a chance to witness yet another clean sweep victory for their team.

In the final game of the match, the Australian pair, Marcus Kong and Peter Yan couldn't match up to the Indian duo Krishna Prasad Garaga and Dhruv Kapila, eventually lost the game with 21-11, 21-15 in 24 minutes.

With losing no match and routed to 5-0 clean sweep wins against USA on day 1, Hungary and Australia on day 2; team India marched their way to the next rounds, in a style.