Indian challenge at Dutch Junior International ends with both Manasi Singh and Tasnim Mir losing their semi-finals

The last two remaining Indians in the ongoing Dutch Junior International tournament in Haarlem, Netherlands – Manasi Singh and Tasnim Mir – lost their respective semi-finals to crash out and end Indian participation in the tournament.

Manasi was up against Indonesia’s Saifi Rizka Nurhidaya but was no match for her as she lost in just half and hour by a scoreline of 21-11, 21-16. Same was the fate of Tasnim Mir who had stunned everyone yesterday by knocking out the top seed Benyapa Aimsaard of Thailand.

On Sunday though, her challenge was ended by the third-seed So Yul Lee of South Korea in just over half and hour. However, Tasnim was able to provide much more of a contest than Manasi and, with a bit of luck, could even have taken the game into a third game. The scoreline reflects the close nature of the match – 21-19, 22-20.

The two finalists Nurhidaya and Lee will face off in the final later today. In the men’s divison, where India’s challenge had ended yesterday with Rohan Gurbani’s loss in the quarter-final, the two finalists are France’s top seed Christo Popov and South Korea’s Yong Jin.

Popov had defeated his own countryman Alex Lanier in the semifinal by a scoreline of 21-11, 21-11. Yong Jin, on the other hand, was up against Malaysia’s fourth-seed Kok Jing Hong in the semi-final. Yong won that match in straight games 22-20, 21-13.

This was a tournament that had started with a lot of hopes for India with the likes of Treesa Jolly, Rohan Gurbani, and Meirba Luwong in the mix. However, after some initial success, they failed to reach the last-four stage. Still, the performance of Tasnim and Manasi is something to be optimistic about.