Rajawat loses in quarterfinals, India's campaign ends in Dutch Junior badminton

Priyanshu Rajawat failed to cross the boys' singles quarter-final hurdle to draw curtains on India's campaign at the Yonex Dutch Junior International 2019 at Haarlem, the Netherlands.

The 17-year-old, hailing from Madhya Pradesh, had put up a gutsy performance in the fourth round to stun fifth seed Christo Popov 22-20 15-21 21-15 in a marathon encounter that lasted one hour 12 minutes.

However, Rajawat failed to replicate that show against fourth seed Brian Yang in the quarter-finals, going down 13-21 20-22 to the Canadian on Saturday.

While Rajawat showed a lot of promise, the rest of the Indian contingent could not cross the pre-quarterfinals hurdle.

Maisnam Meiraba Luwang of Manipur went down 18-21 10-21 to third seed Christian Adinata of Indonesia, while Andhra Pradesh's Sai Charan Koya, who had upset the top seed a day earlier, was beaten 15-21,16-21 by China's Li Yunze.

In the girls' singles, national coach Pulella Gopichand's daughter Gayatri Gopichand lost 15-21 13-21 against eighth seed Benyapa Aimsaard of Thailand.

In the boys' doubles, Telengana pair of Navaneeth Bokka and Vishnu Vardhan Goud Panjala squandered a one-game lead to go down 21-17 19-21 10-21 to Indonesia's M Lucky Andres Apriyanda and Yoggi Pamungkas.

The Indian team will travel to Berlin for the Yonex German Junior 2019, starting on March 7.