CITY shuttlers — singles player Malvika Bansod and doubles pair of Ritika Thaker and Simran Singhi have made it to main draw of the Badminton Asian Championships under way in China on Tuesday. Rising Indian shuttler Malvika won both her matches to qualify for women’s singles main draw. She first defeated Nurani Ratu Azzahra of UAE 21-18, 21-10 and then outclassed Sofiya Zakirova of Uzbekistan 21-4, 21-5 to win both her Group B qualifying matches. The 22-year-old world ranked 50 will face South Korea’s Sim Yu Jin in her Round of 32 match on Wednesday. Ritika and Simran were placed in Group C of the qualifiers. They also played round robin matches. In the first qualifying match, Ritika-Simran were up against the Malaysian pair of Felecia Fong and Fong Xin Jie. Playing with a plan in mind, they beat them 21-11, 21-16.

 

In the second qualifier, they were up against Maldives sisters Aminath Razzak and Faminath Razzak against who they had a head to head record of 3-0. Playing with aggression and confidence, Ritika and Simran defeated them in straight games 21-10, 21-18 to top their group and qualify for the main draw. In the main draw they have a tough ask as they play second seeded Koreans Beak Ha Na and Lee So He. Speaking on the occasion, Ritika and Simran said that they were very happy to make it to the main draw of the prestigious event and added that though it will be very tough against the Koreans, they will give their best. Ritika and Simran practice at Suchitra Academy in Hyderabad.