Malvika Bansod beats Paris Olympics 2024 bronze medalist Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in China Open

Hyderabad: Young Indian shuttler Malvika Bansod pulled off the biggest win of her career so far when she beat Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia in the women’s singles first round match at the China Open Super 100 badminton tournament.

Notably, Mariska Tunjung won the bronze medal in the recently concluded 2024 Paris Olympics.

Malvika Bansod, ranked 43 in the world, beat Tunjung, ranked seventh in the world, 26-24, 21-19 in just 46 minutes.

Malvika’s win makes her the only Indian player to progress in the China Open Super 100 tournament.

After beating the fifth seed, Malvika will next meet Scotland’s Kristy Gilmour in the second round. Gilmour is a two-time Commonwealth Games medallist.

The 22-year-old player’s game has been on a steady rise in the recent past. She won the Maldives International title in 2019 and then finished runner-up at the Syed Modi International in 2022. She has already won one title in the ongoing season, winning the Azerbaijan International tournament.

In 2022, Malvika beat 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal at the India Open, with the win helping her break into the world’s top 30.

Malvika, from Nagpur, has locked horns with the world’s top players in the past including former World No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi and former world champion Nozomi Okuhara. However, her win over Tunjung marks her biggest win of her career, till date.

Meanwhile, in the China Open Super 100 badminton tournament, Aakarshi Kashyap lost to Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Pin-Chian 15-21 19-21 while Samiya Imad Farooqui couldn’t get past Gilmour, Malvika’s second round opponent, 9-21 7-21.

In the women’s doubles, the women’s pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost 21-16 15-21 17-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Pei Shan and Hung En-Tzu.

In the mixed doubles category, B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy lost 10-21 16-21 to Malaysia’s Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing, while Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath lost 14-21 11-21 to another Malaysian pair of Chen tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei.

In the men’s singles category, Kiran George lost to Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 21-4 10-21 21-23 in the first round.