Indian shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat stuns top-seed Japanese shuttler Kenta Nishimoto with a straight-game win to progress to the quarterfinals of the Orleans Masters Super 300 tournament in France.
It was a surprise when the World No. 58 Rajawat showed exceptional tenacity and tactical play to beat the World No. 12, Nishimoto. The Japanese shuttler came to the Orleans Masters on the back of winning the Madrid Masters in Spain last week and was in terrific form. But little did he know about India’s Rajawat and his exceptional skills.
Rajawat was part of India’s historic Thomas Cup team and he knew that he had to play at a certain level to have any chance against such a quality opponent. Therefore he started off aggressively and caught Nishimoto off guard and raced to 10-0 lead in the first game.
When he got the start and started dominating the Japanese, he started believing in himself. Rajawat continued at his dominant best and played an array of strokes to keep Nishimoto at bay. The Japanese looked in shock and could only earn eight points in the first game.
The second game saw Nishimoto return to his usual self as he started off with a 6-2 lead. But Rajawat was still very much in the game as he contested some close rallies and looked pretty confident even when he was not getting the points. Hence the comeback was on.
The comeback did happen as the Indian shuttler, who was the underdog in this clash fired his way back in the second game by equalizing 10-10.
However, the to and fro continued from there as Nishimoto took a one-point lead while entering the mid-game break. But Rajawat was any pushover and his six points burst helped him gain a 16-11 lead in the crucial second game.
While the Japanese made his best efforts to come back into the game, Rajawat was always a step ahead of him. Hence he closed the second game 21-16 and also won the match by 21-8, 21-16 and progressed to the quarterfinals of the Men’s Singles category in Orleans Masters.
While Rajawat scripted an excellent win, other Indian shuttlers suffered defeat in France.
In the other Men Singles clash Mithun Manjunath lost to Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei 15-21, 19-21 in the round of 16.
Tanya Hemnath also fell to Japan’s Natsuki Nidaira 8-21, 17-21 in the women’s singles round of 16 clash.
Lastly, Mixed Doubles pairing of Tanisha Crasto and Sai Pratheek suffered defeat against the seventh-seeded Malaysian duo of Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei 23-21, 17-21, 21-23 in the last eight clash.
