Photo from BAM Facebook Page
India’s top seeded Tasnim Mir stands in the way of Letshanaa Karupathevan’s hopes of starting the year with a title at the Nepal International Junior Series badminton championships in Katmandu.
The 16-year-old lass from Selangor booked her place in the final with a hard earned win over Anupama Upadhyaya of India. Letshanaa battled for 46-minutes to come back from a game down and earn her final berth with a 17-21, 21-17, 21-8 victory.
Tasnim, who had packed off Sharanya Kabilan in the quarter-finals, was hardly tested in the semi-final as she took just 17-minutes to pack off Nepal’s Nita Lamsal in her semi-final match-up.
Unlike Letshanaa, who was entered only for the singles, Tasnim is also playing in the mixed doubles, where she and partner Ayan Rashid have also qualified for the finals.
Letshanaa, the reigning national Under-16 champion would find the going tough against Tasnim. The Indian player is the current Asian Under-15 champion, having beaten teammate Tara Shah in the final in Surabaya last month. Tasnim, who hails from Gujarat, also comes into the tournament on roll, after having won the Indian National Junior title last week.
While the tournament in Nepal, may not be a high profile event, winning in Katmandu would do wonders for the confidence of either player. More so for Letshanaa, who was a member of the Malaysian squad to the World Junior Championships in Kazan last year.
As an independent player, she has to work much harder on her own, as compared to the players in the Badminton Association of Malaysia stable. She had won the Mauritius Junior Open last year and would be looking to add the Nepal title to her name.
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