The Ecogreen Syed Modi International Championships got under way in great style for the England squad in India on Tuesday. All our English athletes won against unseeded Indian opponents they had never previously played on the BWF World Tour. Vikrant Chawat and Rohit Raturi were on the receiving end of one of the quickest wins of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy’s career.
It took just 18 minutes for them to prevail 21-12 21-2. Next they will play Chinese fifth seeds He Ji Ting and Tan Qiang who they have also never played before. Chloe Birch and Lauren Smith won almost as quickly, spending 28 minutes on court for their 21-16 21-3 win over Deeksha Choudhary and Shivani Santosh Singh. The Indian eighth seeds Ashwini Ponnappa and Reddy N. Sikki are their opponents in the next round.
In the Women’s singles, Chloe Birch took her match in three sets, 21-10 19-21 21-15 against her unseeded Indian opponent, Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka. China’s Wang Zhi Yi is her next round opponent.
In the final match of the Round, M.R. Arjun and K.Maneesha lost to the number one seeds Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith to wrap up the great English day. Our only Mixed Doubles pair competing this week won 21-17 21-19.
