Kazakhstan Dmitry Panarin denied the Philippines a last chance to grab a qualification slot in the men’s singles of the Badminton Asian Championships 2022 at Muntinlupa Sports Complex in Muntinlupa City.
The world no. 243 Panarin ended Ros Leonard Pedrosa’s bid with a 21-14, 21-8 subduing to sweep his two-game, round-robin assignment of the men’s Group C qualifiers. The Philippines’ Angelo Abo, Jaja Andres and Mikaela de Guzman also bombed out.
It took Panarin 31 minutes to get past Pedrosa and reach the men’s main draw with Malaysia’s Tan Zhing Yi (Group A), China’s Weng Hong Yang (Group B) and Lei Lan Xi (Group D).
The 26-year-old Pedrosa, who said fatigue caught up with him in his clash with the Kazakh, managed to go toe-toe, and move ahead of Panarin, 9-5, in the first set with his overhead smashes.
But a spirited show of resistance put up by Panarin saw him tying the match 10-all and the 23-year-old shuttler eventually pulled away on a 10-3 surge as he took matchpoint with an ace, 21-14.
After the contest got tied at 2-all in the second set, Panarin pulled away with a 9-0 blast to take control with a 11-2 edge.
Panarin goes into the main draw with two straight victories, with the first a 21-12, 21-14 beating of Bahrain’s Adnan Ebrahim.
Pedrosa had a good chance of bagging a main draw seat when he eased out Ebrahim, 21-19, 21-8, in his opening encounter.
“Iyung conditioning ko, ramdam ko, bumigay ako. Pero, sa tingin ko, kaya ko naman pong gawin iyung nilalaro niya,” said Pedrosa.
Lei, who swept Group D reached the men’s main draw after turning back Albo 21-17, 21-15, and Hong Kong’s Yin Chak Chan, 21-16, 13-21, 21-11. Chan outplayed Albo in the other contest, 21-8, 21-10.
In the women’s encounters, Indonesians Stephanie Widjaja and Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi dominated the respective brackets, to earn slots to the women’s main draw.
Widjaja swept Group B with victories over Andres, 21-10, 21-8, and Maldives’ Fatimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq, 21-4, 21-8. Later, Razzaq bounced back with a 21-17, 21-7 stopping of Andres.
Dewi topped Group D with a pair of triumphs over over Mohd Kjairul Miyisha, 21-18, 21-9, and De Guzman, 25-23, 21-8.
