NAGPUR: A day after she became India’s best women’s singles shuttler, a confident looking Malvika Bansod posted her career’s biggest victory in the Hylo Open Super 300 tournament at Saarbrucken, Germany, on Thursday.
The 39th ranked Malvika made it to the quarterfinal of the BWF World Tour event with a stunning victory over world no. 18 Kirsty Gilmour 24-20, 19-7 after the latter retired while trailing 12 points in the second game.
Up against Scotland’s 7th seed and 2014 CWG silver medallist Kirsty, Malvika had a slow start and was trailing 7-11 in the first break of the initial game. Despite being down, Malvika kept Kirsty involved in rallies and scored crucial net points to bring the lead down to 12-14. After bringing parity at 20 points, Malvika kept her cool in the dying stage to snatch the first game 24-20 in 20 minutes.
After the change of sides, Malvika played aggressively taking Kirsty by surprise and within just nine minutes the Nagpur shuttler took 11-6 lead. Thereafter, Malvika scored seven unanswered points and a struggling Kirsty retired after trailing 7-19.
Earlier in their first meeting during the Uber Cup last year, Kirsty had defeated Malvika.
Malvika’s coach Sanjay Mishra was pleased with her show against one of world’s experienced shuttlers. “Today’s performance was the result of the last 6-7 years’ hard work. I am very happy for her, and she deserves all these achievements. I have trust in her performance but there is still a lot more to do as we are working on her speed and power,” Mishta told TOI.
In the quarterfinal, Malvika will face Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska Tunjung who stunned Thailand's second seed Chochuwong Pornpawee 21-14, 20-22, 22-20.
