Badminton Asia Championships: Timurbek Karimov powers his way to main round of Men’s Singles event
Men’s Singles shuttler Timurbek Karimov had a dream start in Badminton Asia Championships as he cleared the qualifying round on merit and gained access to the main round on April 16, 2013.
He was up against Khaitmurat Kulmatov in his last qualifying round match and this encounter remained in full swing for 43 minutes before ending with decisive figures of 21-23, 21-10 and 22-20.
The victorious player had to wait for some time to read a favourable result on the board. That was because the opposing shuttler showed great resistance throughout this tussle.
However, Timurbek managed to tip the scale in his favour in ending two games and secured a main round berth.
The Uzbek campaigner started his campaign while staying at the lower end. His rival unleashed a flurry of power packed strokes and bagged many valuable points in a row.
Khaitmurat, who was an underrated player of this tournament, registered his presence with a splendid display of badminton craft.
He piled up a mountainous figure way before the interval and then doubled his total by prevailing in few consecutive rallies.
Though, third quarter of the set saw him making few mistakes but still the Khaitmurat managed to win the first set with a tight yet favourable margin of 23-21.
However, his supremacy was really short lived as the opposing shuttler showed a transformed character in very next game and tipped the scale in his favour.
This time Timurbek did not take much time to launch an intensive attack. He played with an authoritative approach from very stroke till the last one.
At first, he mounted pressure by registering an unassailable total of 11 and then magnified the impact by widening the gap on points table. His hard work paid off and he swept the table with an overwhelming score of 21-10.
The decider proved the best part of this tussle as both contenders put all they had to claim this final match point.
They stood toe-to-toe from all the way to game point situation and made the crowd gasp with an amazing performance.
Finally, this nerve-racking match ended when Timurbek placed a winning margin of 22-20 and moved to main round of Badminton Asia Championships.
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