Guwahati, Oct 7 (IANS) Hosts India continued their march to the knock-out stages of the mixed team championships with yet another clinical performance in their Group H clash against Sri Lanka while Philippines upset Hong Kong in a thrilling Group F clash on the second day of the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships for the Suhandinata Cup at the National Centre of Excellence here on Tuesday.

India are favourites to advance to the knock-out stage as group toppers and the second seeds lived up to those expectations to register a 45-27, 45-21 win over Sri Lanka, who had got the better of United Arab Emirates in a thriller on Monday.

Among the other top nations, 14-time champions China and former champions South Korea registered their second wins in their respective group while Philippines upset Hong Kong.42-45, 45-28, 45-43.

China playing in Group D defeated England 45-22, 45-19 while South Korea hammered debutant Bhutan 45-5, 45-17 in Group G.

Playing on the adjacent court to the Koreans, the Indian team hardly broke any sweat despite the team management fielding a fresh bunch of players who had not got a chance to play in the match against Nepal on Monday in the opening set.

Lalthazuala Hmar gave the team a confident start, beating Keneth Aruggoda 9-2 in the boys’ singles match and Bhavya Chhabra and Mithileish P Krishnan extending the lead to 18-6 against Sanuda Ariyasinghe and Thisath Rupathunga.

It was only girls’ singles player Rakshitha Sree, who was playing the team relay-scoring format for the first time, struggled to get going against Ranithma Liyanage and was trailing 3-8 before winning six of the next seven points to take the score to 36-21.

Junior Grand Prix finalist in Pune C Lalramsanga and Taarini Suri then wrapped up the set 45- 27, beating Aruggoda and Liyanage 9-6.

Rounak Chouhan started the proceedings for India in the second set and though the hosts played a completely fresh line up in the set, the outcome was in similar lines as they wrapped up the tie with a 45-21 win in the second set.

Philippines then glued the fans to their seats as Jamal Pandi played the starring role in both singles, doubles and mixed doubles to help the team register their biggest victory in the history of the competition.

Jamal not only won all his boys’ singles matches handsomely but also teamed up with Ralph Nino Dalojo in the men’s doubles match of the final set to pull off an incredible win.

Philippines were trailing 27-36 at the start of the match and it meant that they needed to win 18 points before Hong Kong’s Cheng Ying Kit and Deng Chi Fai could add nine points to their tally.

And Pandi and Dalojo kept their nerves under pressure to kick off celebrations that continued till the team walked out of the stadium.

“It’s a huge result for Philippines badminton and we are very grateful that we got the opportunity to train and play here,” said Philippines coach Escoses Lloyd.

“We attended a three-day preparatory camp (organised by BWF) here before the tournament and that has helped us a lot,” he added.

Speaking about the winning moment, Pandi said they went into the final doubles match without any expectations but just focused on playing every point well.

–IANS

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