Junior National Badminton Championship: Harsheel Dani ousts Arshalan Naqvi in quarter-final clash
Harsheel Dani, an upcoming shuttler of India, proved his impressive skills as he defeated Arshalan Naqvi in the quarter-final of Boy’s Singles U17 and secured his place in the semi-final of the 36th Junior National Badminton Championship, on Friday, February 10, in India.
The passionate Harsheel, who has been positioned at number two in the Boy’s Singles main draw, delivered a superb performance against the fifth seed Arshalan. Harsheel has been playing flawless badminton in the round matches of the event and he continued his winning run in the quarter-final against his lower ranked challenger.
The higher ranked Harsheel worked really hard to beat his rival, who remained unlucky in the deciding game and lost the match with a tight margin.
In the opening set, both boys put up thrilling show of fast badminton and remained close until 9-9. At the one-minute break in the first set, Arshalan managed to take a slight lead of 11-9.
After the break, Harsheel tried his best to level the score but his rival did not spare any chance for him throughout the concluding half. The higher ranked Harsheel lost the set with a margin of 18-21.
In the second game, Harsheel played in a completely different way as he took an early lead and did not let his opponent to level the score at any stage in the game. He played at his best speed and remained ahead on the score board.
On the other hand, Arshalan could not continue his positive run in this set as his challenger was in complete control of rallies. Harsheel ended the second game with a one-sided score of 21-12.
In the decider, both shuttlers snapped each other’s heel by playing at the same level. They remained in wonderful control and continued entertaining the crowd with their impressive play. Until the break, the score was quite close on the board.
After the break, both boys continued their power play and reached at the crucial stage of 20-20. Harsheel controlled the pace at this stage and executed powerful smashes which helped him to earn the ending points. He won the final game with a tight margin of 22-20.
The ending result of this thrilling 55-minute clash was 18-21, 21-12 and 22-20.
Tags: