Ruthvika, Rituparna win in World Junior championship

New Delhi: Junior national champion Ruthvika Shivani and Rituparna Das kept India`s medal hopes alive in the BWF World junior badminton championship with contrasting victories in the girls` singles third round in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday.

Ruthvika had to quell a fighting Maria Mitsova of Bulgaria 21-16 18-21 21-13 in just under an hour while Rituparna managed to pack off Hong Kong`s Wing Yung Ng 21-13 22-20 in just 25 minutes. Ruthvika will now take on world number 84 and third seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the pre-quarterfinals while Rituparna will meet Singapore`s Xiaoyu Liang for a berth in the last eight. While the girls were making merry, the boys could not conjure enough magic with Arun George and Aditya Joshin going down against higher ranked opponents.