Badminton Asia Junior Championship Highlights: Unnati Hooda loses – Unnati Hooda’s hope of winning the gold medal was dashed as she suffered a 18-21, 21-9, 14-21 defeat in the Under-17 Girl’s FINALS at the Asian Junior Badminton Championships on Sunday, 4th December 2022. Earlier, India’s Anish Thoppani has lost the final of Under-15 Men’s Singles in Asian Junior Badminton. India’s U-17 Boys pair Arsh Mohammad and Sanskar Sraswat too lost the final. Follow Badminton Asia Junior Championship updates on InsideSport.IN
Badminton Asia Junior Championship Highlights: Unnati Hooda, Anish Thoppani and U-17 Boys Doubles pair Mohammad-Saraswat settle for silver in Asian Junior Badminton Championship: Watch Highlights
U-17 Girls Singles
Unnati Hooda LOST TO Sarunrak Vitidsarn -18-21, 21-9, 14-21
U-15 Boys Singles
Anish Thoppani LOST to Chung-Hsiang Yih – 8-21, 24-22, 19-21
U-17 Boys Doubles
Arsh Mohammad / Sanskar Saraswat LOST TO Lai Po Yu / Yi-Hao Lin – 13-21, 21-19, 22-24
Badminton Asia Junior Championship Highlights: Unnati Hooda, Anish Thoppani and U-17 Boys Doubles pair Mohammad-Saraswat settle for silver in Asian Junior Badminton Championship: Watch Highlights
Unnati Hooda vs Sarunrak Vitidsarn
First-ever 🇮🇳 U-17 singles shuttler to play final at #AsianJuniorChampionships finishes with 🥈. 👏
Well done champ, proud of you! 🙌@himantabiswa | @sanjay091968 | @lakhaniarun1#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/nJucMBHOcn
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) December 4, 2022
Top seed Unnati Hooda, who was on a terrific form in the tournament as she didn’t drop teven a single game in the tournament entered the final as the favourite. However her chances to become the first Indian girl to win gold medal in the event was dashed as Thailand’s second seeded Sarunrak Vitidsarn got the better of the Indian as she won the contest in three games to clinch the gold.
Right from the start, it was an intense battle between both the players. Vitidsarn gave a good fight against the top seed and entered the break in the first game with a slender 11-10 lead. After the interval, Unnati tried hard to make a comeback and managed to get a 18-16 lead. But the Indian failed to capitalise on it as she made five successive errors to help her opponent seal the first game 21-18.
In the second game, Unnati showcased her class as she completely dominated the entire game. She started off with a 9-0 lead and from then on it was easy for her to close out the game 21-9, taking the contest into the deciding game.
In the final game, Vitidsarn came back strongly as she entered the interval with a 11-5 lead. After the break, Unnati usurped her game as she slowly clawed her way back into the contest. She managed to level the scores 14-14 but couldn’t take the lead as a net-error followed soon from her side.
However at 15-14, a shot from Vitidsarn seemed to have fallen outside the line and a diving Unnati soon asked for an appeal however the umpire failed to notice it. The Indian soon had a few words with the officials but it was denied. A visibly upset Unnati lost the plot after that as Vitidsarn then hit some incredible smashes and won the game 21-14 to seal the title.
Anish Thoppani vs Chung-Hsiang Yih
🥈 FOR ANISH! 🥳👏
A magnificent display of 🏸 by our young champ, proud of you. 👌@himantabiswa | @sanjay091968 | @lakhaniarun1#AsianJuniorChampionships#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/skCNbvkgjF
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) December 4, 2022
Anish Thoppani went down fighting against Chinese Taipei’s Chung-Hsiang Yih in final of men’s singles final on Sunday. Yih won by margin of 8-21, 24-22, 19-21.
Having defeated higher-ranked players like second seed Lee Yu-Jui, third seed Boon Le Lim and Indonesia’s fifth seed Glend Rumondor, Thoppani was aiming for a similar performance against unseeded Chung-Hsiang Yih in the final. However he lost the first game by a bi margin of 8-21.
But the Indian showcased his fighting spirit yet again in the tournament as he pushed the Taiwanese in the second game and finally managed to win it 24-22 to take the match into the decider. In the third game too he challenged Chung-Hsiang Yih but couldn’t hold his nerves in the end as he lost the game 19-21 to settle for silver.
Badminton Asia Junior Championship Highlights: Unnati Hooda, Anish Thoppani and U-17 Boys Doubles pair Mohammad-Saraswat settle for silver in Asian Junior Badminton Championship: Watch Highlights
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