Senior National Badminton C'ships: Unnati, Tanvi, Aakarshi start with wins
Vijayawada, December 24
Women's top seed Unnati Hooda, world junior championships silver medallists Tanvi Sharma, the experienced Aakarshi Kashyap, and upcoming junior Rounak Chauhan registered convincing wins to advance in the 87th Senior National Badminton Championships in Vijayawada on Wednesday.
Unnati, who had a bye in the first round, hammered wildcard entrant Akanksha Matte 21-8, 21-18 while Tanvi began her campaign with a 21-10, 21-14 win over Asian U-15 girls singles gold medallist Shaina Manimuthu, as per a press release from the Badminton Association of India (BAI).
Also advancing to the next round were the experienced Aakarshi, who defeated Asian U-17 championships silver medallist Lakshya Rajesh 21-7, 21-9 while Ashmita Chaliha got the better of Kavya Marvaniya 21-7, 21-11.
16th seed Purva Barve was the only seeded player to bite the dust as she went down 21-19, 17-21, 18-21 against M Meghana Reddy in the round of 64.
In the men's singles event, 11th seed Chauhan defeated Ranveer Singh 21-9, 21-13, while 12th seed D S Saneeth beat Ankit Mondal 21-7, 21-11 to book their spots in the next round.
16th seed and Guwahati Masters Super 100 champions Sanskar Saraswat also began his campaign in style with a 21-11, 21-13 win over Shikhar Rallan.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Great to see the depth in women's singles now. A few years back, we only had Saina and Sindhu. Now we have a whole batch! Tough luck for Purva Barve though, that must have been a close match.
The juniors beating other juniors who are also champions... the level of competition at Nationals is insane! Shaina is a U-15 Asian gold medallist and still lost convincingly to Tanvi. Wow.
As a badminton fan, I love following the Nationals. It's the real test. But BAI, please stream more matches live on YouTube! We want to watch these future stars play.
Rounak Chauhan and Sanskar Saraswat in men's singles are also ones to watch. Sanskar just won a Super 100! The transition from junior to senior level is happening smoothly for many. Good signs for Paris 2024 and beyond.
Heartbreak for Purva Barve, the only seed to lose. Shows you can't take any match for granted at this level. M Meghana Reddy must have played out of her skin! That's the beauty of sports.
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