Danyal Ali second best in Serbian U-17 International Badminton Championship

Junior badminton player loses to Bulgarian Liyan Stoynov 25-23, 21-17 in the final

KARACHI: Junior badminton player Danyal Ali's unbeaten run in the Serbian U-17 International Badminton Championship was ended by Liyan Stoynov as the Bulgarian beat the Pakistani 25-23, 21-17 in the final Novi Sad, Serbia on Monday.

The 16-year-old Ali, put up a performance before going down in the closing moments of the play. He seemed out of concentration and lost precious points after putting up a resolute fight initially against Stoynov.

Ali, after getting a bye in the round of 64, defeated Croatia's luka Ban 2-0 in the round of 32. In the round of 16 he overcame Croatia's Josip Meglic 2-1 to enter the quarter-finals.

Ali then downed Greece's Georgios Ktenas 2-0 to make his way into the last four 2-0.

"This is like a dream come true for me,” Ali to The Express Tribune. “I thought I could reach the top four but entering the final was the result of my hard work.”

"The final was also in my grip but I couldn’t bear the pressure," he said. "The experience of playing in the final will help me a lot in future. I will also work even harder now to achieve more."

Ali also reached the quarter-finals of mixed doubles with Serbia's Jovana Vucetic where the duo was defeated 2-0 by Bulgaria's Stoynov and Hristomira Popovska.