BWF Canada Open Day 2: Priyanshu Rajawat trundles past Rasmus Gemke in opening round

Modified Jul 04, 2024 06:14 IST

India in action at the Canada Open (@rajawatpriyanshu on Instagram),

After a winning start to the Canada Open, courtesy of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Sai Pratheek, the Indian contingent continued their strong performances at the event on day two. The highlight of the day was the men's singles encounter in which Priyanshu Rajawat took down Danish eighth seed Rasmus Gemke.

Going into this match, Rajawat, who trails the Dane by 15 spots in the BWF World Rankings, held a 1-0 advantage in their head-to-head. At the Indonesia Masters earlier this year, the youngster had gotten the better of his opponent 21-18, 21-19.

Wednesday marked another victorious face-off for Rajawat, though he had to work harder for it this time around. Starting strong, Gemke got away with a 21-17 win in the first game, before Rajawat made a 21-16, 21-14 comeback.

Elsewhere in the men's singles at the Canada Open, both Sankar Muthusamy and Ayush Shetty were shown the door by their considerably higher-ranked opponents.

Meanwhile, Indian women's singles players had a strong showing in Calgary on day two. Anupama Upadhyay needed only two games and 31 minutes to dispose of Rachael Darragh while Tanya Hemant was forced to go the distance before getting the better of home player Jackie Dent.

Lastly, the all-Indian encounter in the mixed doubles of the Canada Open saw Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde overwhelm their compatriots Tarun Kona and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli. In just 20 minutes, World No. 155 Kapoor and Gadde beat the higher-ranked Kona and Kudaravalli 21-9, 21-9.