State Ranking Badminton Tournament: Harshith Agarwal, Sankeerth B R march into semi-final round
The twosome of Harshith Agarwal-Sankeerth B R stamped Chethan Raj-Govardhan Shenoy to advance into semi-finals of Udupi 5 Star State Ranking Badminton Tournament on July 10, 2012.
This Boy’s Doubles quarter-final match was staged in Udupi, India and both compatriot teams remained head-to-head for three exhausting sets before ending this tussle with 16-21, 21-14 and 21-14.
Harshith and Sankeerth, who are also top seeded in this event, displayed commendable fighting spirit and secured the honour despite losing the opening game.
Meanwhile, the opposing shuttlers could not capitalise their early advantage and knelt down in crucial moments of the battle.
Chethan and Govardhan opened their marathon in perfect fashion as they snatched the first match point with a staggering performance.
They built pressure with four consecutive points straight away in the beginning and then made the best out of this initial lead by registering a dominating total of 8-4.
Though, they lost their grip just before half time but still managed to place a respectable figure of 11-8.
After one-minute break, both couples remained hammering each other until 16-13 but then Chethan and Govardhan accelerated their pace and wrapped first segment of the show with 21-16 margin.
However, it turned their last success in the home event as the opposing team took control of the game immediately after the first set loss.
Harshith and Sankeerth displayed supreme coordination in following game and brought the contest to the right balance.
They set the ball rolling in first half and established an unassailable lead with 6-2 total. They did not lose this rhythm and placed a decent figure of 11-6 before the interval.
Later part of the game started with a hostile response of Chethan-Govardhan who made swift progress to 11-13 but they could not maintain this momentum in the final stage.
The twosome of Harshith-Sankeerth reinstated their supremacy with a couple of back-to-back points and won this crucial set with 21-14 score.
Third set remained interesting just until half time as Harshith and Sankeerth prevailed in the second half and stole the limelight with 21-14 margin.
Now they will lock horns with a lower ranked but talented duo Akashraj Murthy-Vishal R Bhat in semi-final round of the event.
Tags: