Incredible Victory: Rithvik Sanjeevi ousts defending champ Chirag Sen

Bengaluru (The Uttam Hindu): 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 Nationals Badminton tournament 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 stormed 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 the 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. M. 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 the 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, Rujula Ramu stunned 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. Earlier in the second round, former champions Mithun Manjunath and Sourabh Varma banked on their experience to pack off their much younger opponents in straight games and reached the third round. Mithun defeated third seed Bharat Raghav 21-9, 21-18 and Varma got the better of Abhinav Garg 21-17, 21-17. Defending champion Chirag Sen also started his campaign in style with a 21-15, 21-15 win over Jeet Patel. 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 seeded Karthik Jindal 21-19, 21-16. It was the win of experience over youth in women’s doubles with Kanika Kanwal and Bharti Pal teaming up to upset sixth seeds Amrutha P. and Radhika Sharma 25-23, 21-17 in the top national event for the season.