Top seed Unnati Hooda Dhruv Negi and Anmol Kharb posted contrasting victories to move into the U-17 singles pre-quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Nonthaburi, Thailand on Wednesday.
 
While Unnati and Anmol had easy outings in the women’s section fifth-seed Dhruv, fought hard against Thailand’s Panya Phutthiphraisakul during his 21-14, 17-21, 21-15 win in the boy's category.

Unnati made short work of the Indonesian rival Dea Nur Fadilla.21-7,21-11, Anmol dismissed Thailand’s Ratnacha Sompoch  21-12, 21-19.

Neer Nehwal was the lone Indian to end up on the losing side in the U-17 category. He fought well before going down 21-11, 9-21, 19-21 to Japan’s Kazuma Kawano in the hard-fought singles round-of-32 contest.

In the U-15 singles, Mohammad Ali Mir, Ishita Negi and three other Indians progressed into the round-of-32 on the second day of the tournament.

Mohammad Ali and Gnana Dattu secured easy straight-sets victories against Thailand’s Paramat Pumleng and Hong Kong’s Cheung Sai Shing by 21-16, 21-18 and 21-11, 21-13 respectively.

Anish Thoppani, on the other hand, recovered well in time after losing the second set to finish the match in his favour by 21-14, 18-21, 23-21 against ninth-seed Maharishiel Gain of Indonesia.

Among women, fifth-seeded Ishita thrashed Lada Na Nakorn of Thailand by 21-9, 21-12 whereas Sampriti Pal outperformed Japan’s Ria Haga in a 21-16, 21-16 win.

Abhinav Garg, Suhasi Verma and Tanvi Sharma lost in the U-15 section.

Meanwhile, in the U-15 men’s doubles opening round match, Bjorn Jaison and Aathish Sreenivas PV beat Sri Lanka’s Mihila Jayaweera and Janeesha Sethuhewa by 21-18, 21-17.