Odisha girl Swetaparna Panda and her partner Balkeshari Yadav made a stunning comeback to advance into the mixed doubles quarterfinals on the the third day of the Odisha Open 2022, a Badminton World Federation (BWF) Tour Super 100 Tournament at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack today.

Swetaparna and Balkeshari beat Idian opponents Ashith Surya and Pranjal Prabhu Chimulkar 12-21, 21-13, 21-19 in their second round match to set up a last-eight clash against another Indian pair of Rahul Kumar Shah and Rudrani Jaiswal.

As many as 32 matches were completed in different on the third day. In mens singles, third-seed Shubhankar Dey, Kaushal Dharmamer, Abhyansh Singh, Mithun Manjunath, Priyanshu Rajawat, Tharun Mannepalli, Kiran George and Ansal Yadav booked all the eight quarterfinal berths for India.

Ishika Jaiswal (USA), who fought hard to win her second-round match, became the only non-Indian to reach in women singles quarterfinals. Other seven places were captured by fifth seed Ashmita Chaliha, Malvika Bansod, Samiya Imad Farooqui, Ashmita Chaliha, Unnati Hooda, Smit Toshniwal, Rucha Sawant and Tanya Hemanth (all India). Bansod caused a flutter, defeating Junior World No 1 Tasnim Mir in straight games.

Men’s doubles fifth seeded pair of Krishna Prasad and Vishu Varshan (India) won their second round match with ease, while womens doubles eight seeds Sanjogita Ghorpade and Shruti Mishra made a creditable comeback to advance to the quarterfinals.
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PHOTO: Odisha girl Swetaparna Panda in action at the Odisha Open in Cuttack on 27th January 2022.