India booked their place in the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Junior Mixed Team Championships after registering a commanding 110-83 win over the United Arab Emirates in their Group D encounter, in Solo on Saturday.
The victory came on the back of India’s strong opening-day performance against Sri Lanka on Friday.
With Hong Kong also notching up two wins from two matches, both the teams have secured their spots in the knockout stage.
India and Hong Kong will now clash on Sunday to decide the Group D topper.
The tournament is being played under a relay scoring format, where teams race to 110 points across 10 matches.
India got off to a flying start with girls’ singles player Rujula Ramu defeating Mysha Khan 11-5, followed by the mixed doubles pairing of C Lalramsanga and Taarini Suri extending the lead to 22-11.
India maintained their lead throughout the contest despite spirited resistance from the UAE in a few matches. At the halfway stage, the scoreboard read 55-41 in India’s favour.
US Open finalist Tanvi Sharma then delivered a clinical performance against Madhumita Sundarapandian to stretch the lead to 66-46.
Lalramsanga returned to court, this time partnering with Reshika U in the second mixed doubles rubber, where they outplayed Adithya Kiran and Mysha Khan 11-5 to take India further ahead to 77-51, effectively putting the team in the driver’s seat.
India had achieved their best result in the mixed team event back in 2011, clinching a bronze medal.
Last year, India fell short of a medal after losing 2-3 to Malaysia in the quarterfinals.
The tournament features 17 teams divided into four groups: three groups have three teams each, while one group has five teams. Each team plays every other team in their group once, with the top two from each group advancing to the quarter-finals.
This year’s championships adopted a 110-point relay system. Each tie consists of 10 matches (two each in men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles) with the team reaching 110 points first declared the winner.
There is no playoff for third place; both the losing semi-finalists teams are awarded bronze medals.
