Kathmandu, December 4

Ratnajit Tamang, Dipesh Dhami and Bikash Shrestha were among the seven Nepali shuttlers who won their first round matches of the Yonex Sunrise Nepal International Series at the Nepal APF Club covered hall today.

Nepal No 1 player Tamang defeated India’s Dhruv Kumar 22-20, 22-24, 21-14, while Dhami beat Maldives’ Ahemed Nibal 21-8, 21-11 and Shrestha registered a 21-15, 21-7 victory over Sarim Mohamed of the Maldives to advance to the round of 32 in men’s singles category along with Bijit Thapa Magar, Praful Maharjan, Prince Dahal and Nabin Shrestha.

Thapa Magar defeated Suverson Lama of Bhutan 21-19, 21-7, while Maharjan beat Christopher Paul of Mauritius 21-19, 21-14. Likewise, Dahal beat Mangal Singha of Bangladesh 21-15, 15-21, 21-9, and Shrestha outplayed another Bangladeshi player Mohammad Salman Khan 21-15, 21-19.

Out of the 16 Nepali shuttlers in the men’s singles section, six players faced defeats in the round of 64. Sajan Krishna Tamrakar went down 21-10, 21-15 at the hands of Vietnam’s Cao Cuong Pham. Likewise, Sunil Joshi faced a 21-17, 21-14 loss against Amir Jabbari of Iran, while Teck Zhi Soo of Malaysia defeated Rukesh Maharjan 21-5, 21-9.

Likewise, Deepak Bohara fought hard against Hussien Zayen Shaheed of the Maldives before going down 21-13, 22-24, 23-21, while Irfan Ansari faced a 21-12, 21-17 loss at the hands of Pakistan’s Amir Saeed. And, Goh Giap Chin of Malaysia defeated Gautam Kathayet 21-7, 21-6.

Three Nepali players faced defeats in the qualification round. Sudeep Sedai won the first set 21-15 before losing two others 23-21, 21-16 against GouravSingha of Bangladesh, while Meghana Anil Kulkarni of India defeated Samjhana Sharma 21-18, 21-17, and Sima Rajbanshi pulled out from her match against India’s Durva Gupta.

In other round of 64 matches, six Indian players registered wins. Rishabh Despande defeated Mohamed Rafaah of the Maldives 21-11, 21-9; Karan Choudhary beat fellow Indian shuttler Ayush Garg 19-21, 21-16, 21-15; Ameya Oak outplayed Ugyen Wangdi of Bhutan 21-3, 21-11; Kaushal Dharmamer beat Jean Barnard Bongout of Mauritius 21-16, 21-12; Naveen  came from a set down to beat Philip Discher of Ger 15-21, 21-8, 21-19; and Harivignesh Shonmugam Pillai Ravichandran beat Saketh Upadhya of the USA 21-17, 21-16.

Also, Dinuka Karunaratna of Sri Lanka beat Gourav Singha of Bangladesh 19-21, 21-13, 21-14; Bahrain’s Adnan Ebrahim defeated Melvin Appiah of Mauritius 21-18, 21-17; Anthony Joe of Australia overcame Wee Peng Sim of Malaysia 21-16, 17-21, 21-14; Tejraj Pultoo of Mauritius outplayed Ugyen Chpeda of Bhutan 21-12, 21-18; Aung Myo Htoo of Myanmar registered a 21-11, 21-10 victory over Bhutan’s NidupDorji; Batdavaa Munkhbat of Mongoliya beat Kritik Ramesh of Malaysia 21-12, 21-15; and Le Duc Phat of Vietnam overwhelmed Mohamed Ajfan Raseed of the Maldives 21-9, 21-15.