NAGPUR: Exactly a week after they played out an exciting quarterfinal contest in the India Open in New Delhi, country's two best youngsters Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap are set for a rematch in the last eight stage of the Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament in Lucknow on Friday.
Both the young women shuttlers notched up straight game victories over their second round opponents on Thursday to meet again in quarterfinals at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium.
While Malvika took 27 minutes to get the better of Prerana Neeluri 21-10, 21-8, India No. 3 Aakarshi defeated Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka 21-9, 21-6 in just 24 minutes in their women's singles outings.
In the India Open last week on Friday, Aakarshi got the better of Malvika 21-12, 21-15 to take revenge for her defeat in Hyderabad. In the ranking national tournament at Hyderabad, the 20-year-old Malvika had defeated Aakarshi 21-15, 21-9 to claim her third senior-level title.
Later in the day, city's doubles specialist Ritika Thaker and her Mumbai partner Simran Singhi crashed out of the women's doubles in the second round of the Syed Modi tournament. The Nagpur-Mumbai duo lost to the seventh seeded Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand 21-12, 21-7 in 27 minutes.
