Malvika's challenge ends

Nagpur, Jan 14

Nagpur, The challenge of the city's international shuttler Malvika Bansod ended when she lost to Aakarshi Kashyap in the women singles quarterfinals in the ongoing India Open Badminton Championship at New Delhi on Friday. Yesterday Malvika created a sensation by defeating London bronze medalist Saina Nehwal in just 34 runs. However, today was not her day as Kashyap made a light work of her 21-12, 21-15 in straight two games.

Malvika looked nervous from the start and her opponent ensured that she could never settle down. Kashyap mixed things up by being more aggressive than usual and forced Bansod into committing a lot of unforced errors. It was only at the end of the second game that Bansod looked like playing her game of engaging the opponent in long rallies. But by then she was 10-18 down and it was too little too late.

Kashyap will now face second seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan, who thrashed USA’s Lauren Lam 21-12, 21-8 in the other quarter-final.

While reacting over her loss in the quarterfinal, Malvika said unforced errors and mistakes in the rallies led her down. " I committed some unforced errors and I made mistakes in the rallies. That's it." However, Malvika said it was a great tournament for her and she took a lot of positives from it. Asked about next, she said, " Syed Modi is the next tournament and I am really looking forward to it." Malvika also admitted that there was no pressure on her after yesterday's stunning victory over Saina.