Chandra Kumar D. waylays Utkarsh Arora in qualifying round of Junior National Badminton Championship
It was a splendid day for Chandra Kumar D. in the 37th Junior National Badminton Championship as he thrashed Utkarsh Arora and marched into the main round on November 11, 2012.
It was a Boys’ Singles Under-17 encounter which took place in Imphal, India and it lasted for 25 minutes before ending with 21-17 and 21-17 margin.
The underrated but talented Chandra Kumar registered his presence in this tournament by sealing a splendid straight-set victory in the last stage of the qualifying round.
On the other hand, the opposing shuttler failed to show his brilliance in the game and crashed out of the home event.
However, Utkarsh Arora earned great deal of admiration for putting an honest effort throughout this showdown.
In first set of the match, he launched a brisk attack and got into commanding position in no time. It was felt that he will easily surpass Chandra Kumar in this segment of the battle.
He enjoyed the upper hand all the way to the half time but then couple of mistakes brought him down.
Meanwhile, the other Indian campaigner capitalised his rival’s blunders and established an unassailable lead in third quarter of the set.
Chandra Kumar looked completely on song as he outclassed his competitor technically and tactically.
He maintained a respectable difference until last shot was played and bagged this crucial match point with 21-17 score on the board.
The second set started with a few back-to-back gruelling rallies as both contenders made every effort to oust their opponent.
They pushed each other in all areas of the court and this game kept swinging between them all the way to final moments.
Initially, Chandra Kumar relished full benefits of first set win and dominated overall pace of the establishing rallies but then his challenger counterbalanced the situation with a staggering knock.
Utkarsh Arora played flawless badminton and levelled the score just before the one-minute break. He maintained this rhythm in later part of the game and stayed close on points table.
Finally, this neck and neck competition ended when Chandra Kumar registered a winning margin of 21-17 on the board.
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