Gayatri Gopichand moves into last eight

: Top-seed P Gayatri Gopichand of Telangana moved into the last eight of the girls under-19 event in the Microplex Global and Yonex Sunrise All-India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament here Friday with a hard fought win over Khushi Gupta of Delhi.

In the pre-quarterfinals, the 16-year-old daughter of Indian coach Pullela Gopichand, faced a stiff challenge from the Delhi lass, before posting a 22-20, 21-16 win.

She had earlier eased past Prerana Alvekar of Maharasthra 21-11, 21-13.

Tamil Nadu girl Akshaya Arumugam made short work of Riya Kunjir (Maharashtra) 21-12, 21-11 to make it to the last eight.

The host players had a mixed day with as three moved into the last 32 in the boys singles, while Tamil Nadu's best bet Sankar Muthusamy (No.12 seed) bowed out, losing to Tejas Kallolkar of Karnataka 19-21 21-10 18-21.

Fourth-seed Sathish Kumar of Tamil Nadu outplayed Siddharta Mishra (UP) 21-11, 21-12 in a round of 32 match.

Results: Girls under-19 singles (round of 16): Gayathri Gopichand (TS-X1) bt Khushi Gupta (Del) 22-20, 21-16.

Round of 32: Gayatri Gopichand bt Prerana Alvekar 21-11, 21-13; Khushi Gupta bt Deyashi Kanjibillya (Jharkhand) 22-20, 21-17; Smit Toshniwal (Mah-X7) bt Trisha Hegde (Kar) 23-21, 21-15;Nivetha M (TN X-14) bt Adya Parashar (Del) 21-15,21-19.

Malvika Bansod (AAI-X3) bt Tanya Hemanth (Kar) 21-10, 15-21, 21-18; Aditi Bhatt (UTR-X12) bt Garima Singh (Chd) 21-14, 20-22, 22-20; Aadya Variyath (Ker) bt Amolika Singh (X6) 22-20, 16-21, 21-16; Aashi Rawat (Del-X16) bt S Winona (TN) 21-14, 21-11.

Boys under-19 (Round of 32): Jaiditya Pratap Singh (CG) bt Tonmoy Bikash Boruah (Assam) 21-19, 21-12; Tejas Kallolkar bt Sankar Muthusamy 21-19, 10-21, 21-18; Aakash Yadav (Del-X5) bt Kaveen Dharanirajan (TN) 21-13, 21-18; Pranav Rao Gandham (TS-X16) bt Adheep Gupta (Mah) 21-14, 21-14; Sai Charan Koya (AP-X3) bt Yash Raikwar (MP) 21-17, 21-13.

Siddhanth Gupta (TN-X10) bt Tukum Laa (ANP) 21-16, 21-12; Rithvik Sanjeevi S bt Dhruv Rawat (UTR-X7) 23-21, 20-22, 21-9;Bidyasagar Salam (14) bt Ravi (Har) 13-21, 21-10, 24-22; D Sarath (AP-X9) bt Aditya Chouhan (MP) 21-13, 21-17; M Tharun (TS-X6) bt Afraz Mohamed (TN) 21-13, 21-10; K Govind (Ker) bt Gautam Walia 21-6, 21-12; K Sathish Kumar (TN-X4) bt Siddhartha Mishra (UP) 21-11, 21-12.