Yonex Canada Open Grand Prix: Sho Zeniya sends Akshit Mahajan packing in Men’s Singles round-of-16
Japan’s budding player Sho Zeniya continued his inspiring run as he secured his place in Men’s Singles quarter-final after proving his worth against India’s Akshit Mahajan in round-of-16 contest at Yonex Canada Open Grand Prix 2012 at Richmond, Canada, on
Thursday, July 12.
The un-seeded Japanese shuttler was in full swing on court as he played mature game throughout the contest and managed to oust his talented Indian opponent without losing any set in 40 minutes.
The in-form Zeniya showed aggression and maintained pressure on his rival throughout the battle. He was commanding the rallies and eventually took the match in straight games after an interesting fight
On the other hand, Akshit also put up impressive resistance in opening set of the fight but remained unlucky in the end and lost it narrowly. However, he failed to maintain his speed in the following game and lost the match without winning any set.
In the opening game, Akshit gave an impressive fight on court as he did not let his rival take even a small lead until the end of opening half when he was leader on the board by reaching at 11-8.
After the interval, the Indian shuttler continued impressing his fans by keeping the pace high and reached at 18-14 when the Japanese man started to bridge the gap by changing his tactics.
Zeniya controlled the pace at net and started to earn points by executing his powerful shots in right areas.
The young Japanese player came from behind to snatch the opening game from his Indian rival by a tight margin of 22-20.
In the second game, Zeniya played positive badminton and did not allow his Indian opponent to take lead this time. He managed a small gap of 11-9 on the board until the end of first half.
After the one-minute interval, Zeniya did not lose his focus and manipulated all loopholes of Akshit by playing attacking badminton.
The spirited Japanese player ended up the second set of this pre-quarter-final match with a comfortable score of 21-16.
Zeniya emerged as victorious against Akshit in two sets of 40 minutes with an interesting 22-20 and 21-16 score on the board.
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