KATHMANDU, Dec 25: Nepali badminton players Santosh Khadka and Sawan Shrestha were off to a winning start in the Chelsea Junior International Badminton Tournament that kicked off in Kathmandu on Tuesday.
Khadka defeated his compatriot Nirajan Devkota 21-18, 21-19 in the U-17 boys´ singles while Shrestha beat Manjur Ahmed Hasan of Team Nikhil Academy, Bangladesh 21-8, 21-19 in their respective matches held at the covered hall of the Dasharath Stadium.
In other first round matches of the same age group, Sasin Dangol defeated Europe Karki 21-4, 21-14, Bijit Shrestha registered a 21-12, 21-7 win over Jayabatruka Mohanta of Jharkhand Academy, India and Tirtha Malla saw off Sanam Shrestha 21-13, 21-16.
In the U-17 girls´ singles, Saumya Das of Jharkhand Academy registered a hard-fought 21-14, 16-21, 21-18 win over Shobha Gauchan of Nepal. Manishrani Tirki of Jharkhand, on the other hand, eased past Niru Shreshta of Nepal 21-9, 21-8. Meanwhile, Shreya Pradhan of Nepal earned a walkover from Swechha Shrestha.
In the U-15 boys´ singles, Rukesh Maharjan had an easy access to the second round after receiving a walkover from Sabin Shrestha. Sujan Shrestha ousted Tamjeed Ahmed of Team Nikhil Academy 21-7, 21-16 while Ahmed´s teammate Mohammad Hanif received a walkover from Jayabatruka Mohanta of Jharkhand Academy.
Jessica Gurung beat another Nepali shuttler Rekha Bista 21-10, 11-21, 21-9 to advance into the second round of the U-15 girls´ singles. In other matches, Saumya Das of Jharkhand Academy defeated Shraddha Pradhan of Nepal 21-7, 21-12 while Megha Chand received a walkover from Swechha Shreshta.
The tournament is organized by Kathmandu District Badminton Association while Chelsea International Academy is the main sponsor. The tournament was inaugurated by Badminton Asia Confederation´s member Prakash Bahadur Shahi earlier on Tuesday.
PLEASE DESIST FROM ATTACKING THE WRITER PERSONALLY AND BE RESPECTFUL TO OTHER READERS.
Please give your full name while posting your comments. This is not to stifle the free flow of comments but your full name will enable us to print the comments in our newspaper.
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
Copyright © Nepal Republic Media Pvt. Ltd. 2008-10.