No coach by her side, Nagpur's Malvika Bansod stuns Paris Games bronze medallist Tunjung at China Open

NAGPUR: Three days after celebrating her 23rd birthday, Nagpur shuttler Malvika Bansod registered her biggest career victory on Wednesday at the China Open Super 1000 badminton tournament.
In the women's singles opening round of the BWF world tour event in Changzhou, Malvika surprised fifth seed and Paris Olympics bronze medallist, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia, in straight games.The thrilling 46-minute encounter saw Malvika survive some anxious moments, but a change in strategy during the dying stage of both games helped her overcome the world junior champion 26-24, 21-19.
Malvika is now the lone standing Indian in the tournament. Her resounding victory over the world No. 7 will give a huge boost to Malvika, who is competing in the China Open without a travelling coach. She is accompanied by her father Prabodh who was at the courtside as she scored the win and celebrated. "I am thrilled to have defeated such a strong player in my first China Open. My aim is to maintain consistency in my upcoming matches," Malvika told TOI during a cellphone conversation.
Malvika explained how she applied the lessons learned from her previous losses against top players to secure this victory. "I altered my strategy in the dying stage of both the games. Despite holding a 19-18 lead, I struggled to convert due to the drift, which I countered by varying my strokes, causing confusion for my opponent. The drift had contributed to some narrow losses against elite shuttlers, including world No.1 Akane Yamaguchi, in earlier tournaments. The lessons learnt from those experiences proved instrumental in my victory against Tunjung. I played strokes contrary to her expectations, and I am delighted to have secured one of my most significant career triumphs thus far," she said.
Two years after creating a flutter in the badminton world with a stunning win over Saina Nehwal, Malvika's journey encountered a roadblock when she was diagnosed with dengue, followed by typhoid. The fighter in her, driven by an indomitable spirit, made Malvika rise again. She won the US Open bronze before stunning Tunjung in the China Open.
In the pre-quarterfinal on Thursday, the 43rd ranked Malvika will face two-time Commonwealth Games medallist Kristy Gilmour of Scotland. The head-to-head record between the two stands at 2-2. Malvika had beaten Kristy in the US Open quarterfinals in June.
All other Indian shuttlers including Aakarshi Kashyap, Samiya Imad Farooqui, Priyanshu Rajawat and Kiran George lost their matches. The women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, and Rutuparna and Swetaparna Panda went down fighting in their respective matches in three games. B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy lost their opening round tie in the mixed doubles.