Final results of Indian shuttlers at the Hylo Open 2023
The Hylo Open 2023, taking place in Saarlandhalle in Saarbrücken, Germany, from October 31 to November 5, saw several Indian badminton players take to the court, but Malvika Bansod was the only Indian shuttler who made it to the quarterfinals.
Bansod played some brilliant badminton throughout the tournament but was completely outclassed in the quarter-final match against Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour.
Last year, Bansod defeated Gilmour in the same tournament, but unfortunately, this time around, she faced an uphill battle from the start, conceding the first 10 points of the match. She mounted a comeback in the latter part of the first game, narrowing the deficit to 21-8, but it was too little, too late. Gilmour secured the first game.
In the second game, Bansod showed remarkable intensity, even leading at the midway break. However, Gilmour regained control after the restart and secured the set 21-14, winning the match in 33 minutes, ending Malvika Bansod's impressive run at the Hylo Open.
Malvika received a walkover in the first round, while she got the better of Brazil’s Juliana Viana Viera with a score of 22-20, 21-10 in the pre-quarterfinals.
Results of the other Indian shuttlers at the Hylo Open
The tournament commenced with women's singles. Indian shuttler Aakarshi Kashyap was also seen in action. She faced off against Spain’s Clara Azurmendi in the Round of 32. Despite a spirited effort, Kashyap succumbed to Azurmendi with a score of 13-21, 16-21.
In the women's doubles category, the duo of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, who recently won the title at the Abu Dhabi Masters Super 100 tournament, battled hard but couldn't secure victory, losing 15-21, 18-21, against Indonesia’s Febriana Kusuma and Ammalya Pratiwi.
The other women's doubles pair of the Panda sisters also lost in the Round of 32. Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda took the court, facing much higher-ranked Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning from China. They played incredibly well in the first game but were outplayed in the second one. They lost with a score of 15-21, 5-21.
In the men's singles category, Shankar Muthuswamy played extremely well in the round of 32 but fell short in a three-set thriller against Julien Carraggi with a scoreline of 21-16, 12-21, 10-21.
Kiran George, too, was seen playing beautifully with confident strokes in his round-of-32 match. The young shuttler delivered an enthralling contest against the experienced player from Hong Kong, Angus Ng Ka Long, eventually losing in a close contest with a scoreline of 15-21, 22-20, 18-21.
Mithun Manjunath, on the other hand, emerged victorious in the first round, securing a victory against Fabio Caponio with a score of 21-16, 21-8. However, Manjunath faced a challenging opponent in the next round. Despite a valiant effort, Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu ended his journey at the Hylo Open 2023 with a scoreline of 13-21, 17-21.