India make winning start at Badminton World Junior Championships

New Delhi: Indian shuttlers registered a dominating 5-0 victory over Cook Islands to make a winning start to their campaign in the mixed team event of the BWF World Junior Championships in Spokane, USA.

The mixed doubles pair of Sathwik Reddy Kanapuram and Vaishnavi Khadkekar provided India a winning start, beating Kaiyin Mataio and Tereapii Akavi with a resounding 21-6 21-8 victory.

Ayush Shetty and Tara Shah further extended India's lead with dominant show in their respective singles matches.

In the boys' singles match, Ayush displayed his skills to register an impressive 21-6 21-3 win over Daniel Akavi, while Tara showcased her class and just took 14 minutes to beat Te Pa O Te Rangi Tupa 21-3 21-6 in girls singles.

Later, the pair of Nicholas and Tushar defeated Emanuela Mataio and Kaiyin Mataio comfortably with a scoreline of 21-9 21-5 in the boys' doubles match.

The girls' doubles duo of Radhika Sharma and Tanvi Sharma demonstrated excellent teamwork to clinch a 21-4 21-7 win over Tereapii Akavi and Vaitea Crocombe-ama.

India have received a walkover against the Dominican Republic and will next face Brazil and Germany in their next two Group D matches.

Badminton Association of India (BAI) has sent a 16-member squad for the prestigious tournament which will conclude on October 8.