Indian junior mixed team advanced to the quarterfinal of the BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships in Nanchang, China after winning four out of four matches in the group stage.
The Indian team made a comeback to defeat the Turkish team (110-99) in their final group-stage match on Wednesday. They will now face Indonesia in the quarterfinal match tomorrow.
The tie started with a men’s singles match between India’s Tushar Suveer and Turkiye’s Mehmet Can Toremis. The latter took the match (11-7) and gave his side a four-point advantage after the first match.
Indian team then bounced back winning the next three matches, starting with a win for women’s doubles pairing of Srinidhi Narayanan and Reshika Uthayasooriyan.
This was followed by wins from Navya Kanderi in women’s singles and the men’s doubles pair of Bhavya Chhabra and Param Choudhary, giving India a lead of 9 points (44-35) after 4 matches.
The Turkish team then tried to reduce the deficit in the fifth match, which was in the mixed doubles category but India still held on to a good lead of 6 points at the halfway stage.
After that, Turkey’s main man Mehmet Can Toremis returned for the second men’s singles against India’s Numair Shaik and reduced the deficit to just three points as India was leading by 66-63 after six matches.
Indian team kept their composure and claimed a big 14-point lead (88-74) after 8 matches as both Tanvi Sharma in women’s singles and the second women’s doubles pair Taarini Suri and Shravani Walekar closed their respective matches easily.
Indian team then confirmed their win in the tie as both the pairings in men’s doubles, Bhargav Ram-Viswa Tej, and mixed doubles pair of Bhavya Chhabra-Shravani Walekar didn’t let this lead slip and claimed a spot in the quarterfinals with a 110-99 win.
Earlier, India won their first three group stage matches against, Azerbaijan (110-55), Peru (110-50), and Mauritius (110-49) in a much comfortable manner.
Format of a Tie
The format of a single tie in this competition is very unique. It has ten matches in a single tie instead of the traditional five-match format, which will include two matches in all five categories of badminton.
Also, there is no limit to the points to be played in one single match, and the match will continue unless one team reaches the multiple of the 11.
For example, the first match of the tie was won by team A with a scoreline of 11-8. Once any team reaches the 11-point mark the match will end and the second match will start.
Now the second match will not be over unless any team reaches the 22-point mark, for that Team A needs just 11 points while Team B needs 14 points.
The process will continue for the next 8 matches and the team who reached the 110-point mark after 10 matches will win the tie.