With a busy, attacking style, Sri Lanka’s Ranithma Liyanage bustled into the Round of 16 at the BWF World Junior Championships 2024 on a day that continued to witness the strides upcoming badminton countries are making.
One such team was United Arab Emirates, in only their second BWF World Junior Championships. Mixed doubles pair Dhiren Ayyappan and Taabia Khan, and men’s singles player Bharath Latheesh took their spots in the Round of 16 with hard-fought wins.
Liyanage, who at 17 is a two-time senior national champion in Sri Lanka and looks upon An Se Young as her role model, showed her attacking prowess against Vietnam’s Bu Bich Phuong, eventually wearing her down 21-13 21-12 21-16. The Sri Lankan faces third seed Xu Wen Jing for a place in the quarterfinals.
“Very happy, as this is my first time in the Round of 16,” said Liyanage. “She got tired in the end. I just tried to control the game. My dream is to become champion at the World Juniors.”
Dhiren Ayyappan and Taabia Khan
As for UAE, who’d blown a spot for today’s men’s doubles when Ayyappan twins Dev and Dhiren had missed two match points yesterday, there were positives in the mixed and men’s singles. Dhiren Ayyappan and Taabia Khan got the better of Vietnam’s Le Minh Son/Nguyen Vu Ngoc, while Bharath Latheesh prevailed in a hustle over Myanmar’s Hein Htut 21-18 16-21 21-12.
Another UAE player, Dev Vishnu, fell in a close encounter to 13th seed Kazuma Kawano, 24-22 21-17.
“Yesterday was disappointing, but then coming into today I wanted to forget that and just focus completely,” said Ayyappan. “She supported me well in the game, the way she took control when I was low. We were behind 5-10 in the opening game, and then she took four points with her service. From there I got confident, that if she can play well, I can too. Overall, in both games we were in control. When they changed the game, we knew what to do.”
Bharath Latheesh
As the first generation of UAE players, Ayyappan believes the team’s approach towards international competition – they invited Danish coach Michael Holbek for a two-week camp – has spurred them on.
“It’s definitely about the experience, because we’d never played international standard before. It’s been 1-1/2 years since we started playing. We started going to International Series and Challengers, and now we are at the continental level, so we’ve gained experience. Even now we are not completely there, but we try with what we have and to give our best.”
Meanwhile, women’s singles defending champion Pitchamon Opatniputh was taken the distance by Canada’s Emma Meng, coming through 21-10 18-21 21-9.
“After the first game I put pressure on myself,” said Opatniputh. “I’m happy with the way I fought back because in the last three months I lost myself a little bit. I had exams for my 12th grade, so that’s why I joined the team late.
“I have had a right knee injury because I played too many tournaments and I could not get enough rest. I feel a bit of pressure as the defending champion.”
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