Senior Badminton Nationals: Defending champion Chirag Sen out in third round; Anmol Kharb, Tanvi Sharma advance

Former champions Mithun Manjunath and Sourabh Verma also moved into the round of 16.

Rithvik Sanjeevi S fought back from a game down to pack off defending champion and sixth seed Chirag Sen in the third round of the 86th Senior National Badminton Championship 2024 here on Saturday.

The Tamil Nadu shuttler looked in trouble after losing the opening game against Sen but bounced back to win 12-21, 21-19, 21-15 and will now take on Raghu M on Sunday for a place in the quarterfinals. There were no such surprises in the women’s singles section as defending champion Anmol Kharb and last edition runners up Tanvi Sharma washed into the round of 16.

Anmol defeated Krishika Mahajan 21-14, 21-14 while Tanvi packed off Swati Solanki 21-12, 21-8 in the third round.

While most of the title contenders stayed on course in women’s singles category, the men’s singles event saw fourth seed Bhargav S, fifth seed Saneeth DS and ninth seed Ravi biting the dust. Ma raj Singh upset Bhargav 21-11, 21-13 while Manish Phogat got the better of Ravi 14-21, 21-14, 21-18. In the last match of the day, Rounak Chauhan ended Saneeth’s campaign with a 21-11, 21-16 victory.

In the doubles categories, it was win of experience over youth in women’s doubles with Kanika Kanwal and Bharti Pal teaming together to upset sixth seeds Amrutha P and Radhika Sharma 25-23, 21-17.

Earlier in the day, former champions Mithun Manjunath and Sourabh Varma banked on their experience to pack off their much younger opponents. Mithun defeated third seed Bharat Raghav 21-9, 21-18 before Varma got the better of Abhinav Garg 21-17, 21-17 in the men’s singles second round matches.

While the favourites put their best foot forward, there were a few upsets that underlined the depth of talent in Indian badminton.

In women’s singles, Rujula Ramu upset 10th seed Surya Charishma Tamiri 21-19, 19-21, 21-17 while Jiya Rawat came from a game behind to beat 9th seed Shruti Mundada 25-27, 21-14, 21-10.

In the men’s singles section, Rohan Gurbani proved too good for 11th seed K Lokesh Reddy, winning 21-15, 21-1 while Raghu M defeated 15th Karthik Jindal 21-19, 21-16.

It was a win of experience over youth in women’s doubles with Kanika Kanwal and Bharti Pal teaming together to upset sixth seeds Amrutha P and Radhika Sharma 25-23, 21-17.

Rujula Ramu had upset 10th seed Surya Charishma Tamiri 21-19, 19-21, 21-17 while Jiya Rawat came from a game behind to beat 9th seed Shruti Mundada 25-27, 21-14, 21-10 in the second round.

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