Haryana's Kirtesh Dhindhwal staved off the strong challenge from Delhi's Abhinav Prakash to advance to the men's singles second qualifying round of V V Natu Memorial Amanora All-India Senior Ranking Badminton tournament here today.
Dhindwal rallied after dropping the opening game to eke out a 21-23, 21-19, 21-15 victory in a battle that lasted just over an hour on the opening day of the tournament organised by Poona District and Metropolitan Badminton Association here.
Thirteen players from Maharashtra won their respective matches to join Dhindwal in round two of the qualifying stage.
Vinayak Dandavate, Yash Wagh, Sushrut Karmarkar, Kabir Kanzarkar, Amit Kshatriya, Kaivalya Kumthekar, Ameya Oak, Harshad Bhagwat, Rohan Patwardhan, Dhiraj Kumar Gaurav, Amey Tilloo, Varun Sarode, Firoj Mulani, Chirag Pabbaraju were the players from the host state to enter the next round.
Amongst the tough contests, Wagh got the better of Andhra Pradesh's Sai Krishna Gorle 23-21, 21-15, while Chirag Pabbaraju defeated Narender G 21-19, 21-18.
The qualifying event would end tomorrow with the 16 men and women singles playeres and 8 men's doubles and mixed doubles pairs making it to the main draw beginning on Friday.
