Vijetha K tames Riya Gajjar in qualifying round of 2012 Junior National Badminton Championship
The spirited shuttler Vijetha K. of India alarmed all the contestants of the 37th Junior National Badminton Championship by securing a main round berth on November 11, 2012.
She was up against Riya Gajjar in the final stage of qualifying round and she cleared this last hurdle with an impressive result of 21-12 and 21-15.
This Girls’ Singles Under-17 tussle was staged at local badminton arena of Imphal and it remained in full swing for 20 minutes.
Vijetha, who is the top seeded shuttler of this tournament, played impeccable badminton and wrapped this showdown in just two games.
She laid the foundation of her authority straight away in the beginning of first set as she made a swift progress to a respectable score position of 6.
This initial advantage helped her in next couple of rallies and she strengthened her grip by adding few uninterrupted points in her total.
At mid-game break, she was having an upper hand with a mountainous total of 11 when the opposing shuttler put her under huge pressure by clinching many vital points.
Riya showed a transformed character and tipped the scale in her favour. She did not lose focus until third quarter of the set and brought life back to the contest by narrowing the gap.
Both compatriot shuttlers snapped at each other’s heels and stayed close on the points table. Finally, this nerve-racking set ended when Vijetha placed a winning margin of 21-12.
The second set started with some gruelling back-to-back rallies as both contenders put all in their possession to gain an immediate lead.
They chased each other all the way to one-minute break but neither of them could make notable difference.
Initially, Vijetha was in strong position but then Riya counter-balanced the situation with some productive rallies.
She maintained this momentum and piled up a decent figure of 8 but then few mistakes weakened her grip over the game.
The other Indian shuttler did not miss this opportunity and tipped the scale in her favour with a gutsy knock.
Vijetha played with great precision to put 21-15 margin and earned the right to be in the main draw of this tournament.
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