Anand Pawar
Promising Indian shuttler Anand Pawar added another feather in his cap when he won the Poruguese International Championships with a straight games win over England’s Carl Baxter on Sunday. Pawar, who won the Austrian Open last month, won 21-15, 21-3.
The 21-year-old is a trainee at Prakash Padukone’s badminton academy in Bangalore. He is presently ranked 101 in the world and has a good chance to break into the top 100 after this victory.
Another Indian, Ajay Jayaram, who had to qualify to get into the main draw, reached the semifinals before losing to Baxter 21-15, 21-18.
Among other Indians in the tournament, P. Kashyap made it to the second round, where he lost to compatriot Jayaram. Sagar Chopda also qualified from the main draw, but fell in the first round itself.
The second seeded duo of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas fell at the final hurdle, going down to top seeded Dutch pair of Ruud Bosch and Koen Ridder in a tough encounter 21-19, 22-20.
The other Indian pair of Akshay Dewalkar and V. Diju bowed out in the quarterfinals.
In the women’s section, Aditi Mutatkar reached the second round, but seventh seed Trupti Murgunde had to retire from her first round match against Vietnam’s Nguyen Nhung Le Ngoc.
source:The Hindu
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