Tournament top seeds Lakshya Sen and
Aakarshi Kashyap triumphed in their respective men’s and women’s singles
matches during the second round of the Yonex-Sunrise 85th Senior National
Badminton Championships at RG Baruah Sports Complex in Guwahati on Thursday.
The prestigious national championships,
organized by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) in Assam after four
years, are being held from December 20-24.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sen
swiftly defeated Sidarth T with scores of 21-8, 21-5. Initially cautious in the
first game, the players fought for each point until they reached a tie at 5-5.
Sen then accelerated to secure the first
game at 21-8. Reading his opponent well, Sen dominated the second game with a
21-5 victory, completing the rout in just 25 minutes.
BWF 2023 World Junior Championships
bronze medallist Ayush Shetty faced a tough challenge from Neer Nehwal but
emerged victorious with a 23-25, 21-18, 21-12 scoreline. He is set to take on
seventh-seeded Alap Mishra in the next round.
In the women’s singles category,
Aakarshi Kashyap, the 22-year-old tournament top seed, encountered a tough
match against Rituparna Das.
Ranked 40th globally, Kashyap overcame a
stiff challenge in the first game before closing the match with a 21-18, 21-11
scoreline in 32 minutes. She is scheduled to play Aruna Prabhudesai in a
fourth-round encounter.
Second-seeded Ashmita Chaliha, a home
favorite in the women’s singles, defeated her state-mate Suzen Burhagohain with
a score of 21-13, 21-10 in the second round. Chaliha, ranked 12th by BAI, is
set to face Delhi’s Rishika Nandi in the fourth round.
Another Assamese player, Isharani
Baruah, fought back from a game down to defeat Shriyanshi Pardeshi of the
Railways. Baruah, ranked 6th by BAI, lost the first game 20-22 but rallied to
win the next two games 21-10, 22-20, advancing to the third round.
Unnati Hooda, the 2023 Abu Dhabi Masters
champion, triumphed over Manisha Rani Tirkey of Jharkhand with a 21-11, 21-17
victory, setting up a third-round clash with Tanvi Sharma.
Sharma, the silver medallist in
Badminton Asia’s U17 and U15 Junior Championships in 2023, faced a tough match
against Shreya Lele, ultimately securing victory with scores of 21-18, 22-24,
21-13 in a 56-minute battle.
Defending champion and former Junior
World No. 1 Anupama Upadhyaya defeated Taneesha Singh with scores of 21-5,
21-12, maintaining her quest to regain the crown.
In the mixed doubles, the pair of Dhruv
Kapila and Tanisha Crasto cruised to a 21-5, 21-14 win over Abdul Rahman Syed and
Mamaikya Lanka. The duo is set to face Chayanit Joshi and Kavya Gupta in the
pre-quarter-finals.
ANI
