Neha Pandit storms into Women’s Singles main round of Austrian International Challenge 2012
India’s young player Neha Pandit defies all odds as she stormed into Women’s Singles main round of the Austrian International Challenge 2012.
In her last qualifying-round fight, Neha showed her elevated skills and outplayed Dimitria Popstoikova of Bulgaria, on Thursday, February 23, in Austria.
In the Women’s Singles main round of the tournament, Neha will be up against Telma Santos of Portugal.
The spirited Indian started her campaign against Popstoikova in an authoritative manner as she played an attacking game. However, she could not set up a comfortable lead as her rival also played positive badminton.
In the first half of opening set, both ladies remained close on the score board as no one could dominate the pace of rallies.
However, in the second half, Neha played with precision and started to dictate the pace of rallies. She did not make any mistake in the concluding part of opening game and managed to put pressure on her rival.
On the other hand, Popstoikova played well in the starting points but soon started to lose her patience and executed many hasty strokes that wend wide of the court. Her negative play helped Neha to take a good lead at the crucial stage in the opening set.
The intrepid Indian utilised every chance to earn points in the opening set and remained successful in ending it with a remarkable 21-15 score on the board.
In the second game, Popstoikova changed her game plan to tackle the aggression of her opponent and started to execute parallel and attacking shots.
She matched the speed of her Indian rival in the first half of second game and remained close until the one-minute interval.
After the break, Neha changed her tactics and put up tremendous show of flawless badminton at net. She disturbed the flow of her Bulgarian opponent and got a strong position in the game by setting up a good lead.
Neha did not commit any mistake and remained focused in the game at the concluding stage and ended it with a 21-16 score on the board.
The overall result of this 21-minute Women’s Singles qualifying-round encounter was 21-15 and 21-16.
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