India’s Malvika Bansod, on Wednesday, registered a major upset as she took down world No 7 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the women’s singles first round at the 2024 China Open Super 1000 in Changzhou.
Bansod, ranked 43rd in the world, beat the 2024 Paris Olympics bronze medallist 26-24, 21-19 in a hard fought contest.
The 23-year-old Indian shuttler dominated early proceedings and opened up an 18-12 lead in the opening game, but the fifth-seeded Tunjung fought back by winning eight of the next ten points to equalise at 20-20.
Tunjung even had three game points but Bansod, who has lost matches from such crucial positions before, kept the pressure on to win the first game 26-24 after a long battle.
Bansod once again led 18-10 in the second game, but Tunjung won nine quick points to put the Indian under pressure. The left-handed Indian once again managed to eke out points under pressure as she wrapped up the second game 21-19 to win the match in 46 minutes and advance to the second round.
Bansod will next take on Kristy Gilmour of Scotland on Thursday.
Later in the day, Kiran George lost a hard fought battle against world No 13 Kenta Nishimoto in the men’s singles first round.
Kiran dominated the proceedings in the opening game, winning it 21-4 in just ten minutes as the Japanese shuttler struggled to counter the drift. The Indian was on the receiving end of the drift in the second round as he surrendered 10-21 without much of a fight.
Kiran, ranked 40th in the world, led 16-11 in the decider but lost steam soon after. He looked tired on the court, often bending down and putting his hands on the knee to catch his breath after rallies.
The Indian even had two match points, but failed to convert as Nishimoto sensed his chances and pocketed the decider 23-21 to win the match in exactly an hour.
Elsewhere, the Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand went down 21-16, 15-21, 17-21 after being a game up to Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Pei Shan and Hung En-Tzu in what was the first Indian match of the day.
The mixed doubles pair of Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy lost 10-21, 16-21 to Malaysia’s Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing.
Women’s singles shuttlers Aakarshi Kashyap and Samiya Imad Farooqui also bowed out following losses in their respective first round matches. The mixed doubles pair of Sathish Kumar Karunakaran-Aadya Variyath and the women’s doubles pair of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda too suffered the same fate.