BWF World Junior Championships 2022: Sankar Muthusamy qualifies for the quarterfinals

Indian shuttler S Shankar Muthusamy Subramanian registered a comfortable win to enter the men's singles quarter-finals of the BWF World Junior Championships 2022 in Santander, Spain on Thursday. He is now the lone Indian left at the junior meet.

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Former junior world No. 1 Shankar Muthusamy is the only remaining Indian in the tournament and will look to make it to the semi-finals against China's Hu Zhe An in the men's singles quarterfinals on Friday. He defeated Thailand's Nachakorn Pusri 21-10, 21-12 in the fourth round on Friday to reach the quarter-finals.

On the other hand, compatriot Unnati Hooda bowed out of the BWF World Junior Championships 2022. 14-year-old Unnati lost to Japan's Hina Akechi 17-21, 21-12, 18-21 in an hour and two-minute match.

Unnati, who became the youngest Indian to win the BWF Super 100 title after claiming the Odisha Open women's singles title in January, bounced back in the second game and dominated her Japanese rival to equalize. In the deciding game, the Indian youngster started well but eventually lost. Hooda took time to read Hina Akechi's shots in the first game and quickly went down 11-7. However, she soon managed to equalize. The match was a thrilling one till the end, but Akechi did a great job to win the first game.

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Notably, Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to have won the Junior World Championship crown till date. While rising star Lakshya Sen was India's last medalist in 2018 with a bronze medal.

The BWF World Junior Championships was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic. The tournament will conclude on October 30.