Nagpur: City’s doubles specialist Ritika Thaker and Lucknow’s Sonali Singh rallied from a game down to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the Korea Masters badminton tournament on Wednesday.In their maiden BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament, the Nagpur-Lucknow duo of Ritika and Sonali took time to settle into their groove and registered a facile win over the Korean pair of Bang Ji Sun and Hyun Ji Jang in an exciting 54-minute opening-round clash.
Ritika Thaker and Sonali Singh in action on Wednesday
Despite losing the first game 13-21, the duo of Ritika and Sonali remained positive and brought the much-needed aggression to bring parity. In the second game too, the Indian pair had a slow start and were trailing 2-6, which forced Ritika to use all her experience while Sonali relied on her raw power to clinch the second game 21-15. In the decider, Ritika-Sonali were at their dominant best. With 10 points in succession, the Indian duo took an 11-2 lead at the break and outplayed the Korean pair 21-12 to open their campaign with a win and enter the top 16 of Korea Masters.In the second round, the Nagpur-Lucknow express will face the winners of the just-concluded Taipei Open, the seventh-seeded pair of Sumire Nakade and Miyu Takahashi from Japan.Ritika said, “This win was crucial to gain confidence for tournament ahead. We are happy to enter the second round even after being one game down. Shuttlers from Korea and Japan are always tough to beat. In the second round we will play all out as we have nothing to lose against their higher-ranked opponents.”Ritika trains under Arun Vishnu at Arundhati Arun Badminton Academy, Besa, Nagpur, and Sonali practices at BBDBA, Lucknow.
