Fiji’s badminton prospect Devarisi Sharma is expected to have an uphill battle against fourth-seeded Paul Van Rietvelde of Scotland in round two of the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India.
Sharma won by default in the opening round after a no show from his Kenyan opponent and the Natabua High School student is looking forward to his second game.
After high expectations for a good outing in the opening game, FASANOC media officer Lyndall Fisher said he was disappointed about the default.
“Sharma got his surprise of the day when he was informed that he had won his first match by default,” Fisher said.
“It appeared that his Kenyan opponent had not travelled to Pune.
“After having warmed up well and looking forward to getting a match under his belt, he was quiet disappointed.
“Of course this does mean that Devarisi progresses to round two but it also mean that he goes into a much harder game without a warm-up game.
“He now has to face up the fourth-seeded player from Scotland.
“Steven Wong went on court as schedule and played his opening game against third-seeded Martin Campbell of Scotland.
“While it has to be acknowledged that Martin was by far the superior player, Steven did not allow nerves to get the better of him, in addition to having to contend with playing on centre court with the cameras sending his image to the large screen.
“It’s unfortunate that Steven didn’t play his normal game and this allowed his opponent to dictate play.
“After leaving the courts one of the court officials commiserated with Fiji’s loss and mentioned to the manager that it was obvious that Steven was very nervous and that he could only get better in his next match.”
Steven lost his opening game to Campbell 6-21, 6-21.
Meanwhile, Steven and Sharma have been drawn a tough doubles draw, facing a very strong Scottish partnership of Angus Gilmour and Graig Pollock tonight at 7.25pm while Sharma will play Rietvelde at 3.30pm today (Fiji Time).
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