Vijayawada has proven to be the graveyard of seeds, especially in the women’s singles of the 87th Yonex Sunrise Senior National Badminton Championship at the Chennupati Ramakotaiah Indoor Stadium. On Friday, unseeded Shruti Mundada shut out second seed Anupama Upadhyaya and Andhra Pradesh shuttler Surya Charishma Tamiri accounted for top seed Unnati Hooda in the quarterfinals.
Maharashtra’s Shruti has been in tremendous form right through the tournament and has slain every seed that has come her way. In the last eight, she accounted for Delhi shuttler Anupama in straight games. The first game was a closely fought affair with both players dishing out their best. However, Shruti held her nerves to prevail 22-20. The next one proved a cake walk for Shruti as she cruised to a 21-12 victory and book her berth in the semifinals.
Surya Charishma gave the home side a lot to cheer as she literally toyed with top seed Unnati in her straight games victory. Charishma won both games quite easily at 21-12 and 21-15 to storm into the last four.
Seeds left behind in semifinals
The other two quarterfinals were fought between unseeded players. Telangana shuttler Rakshitha Sree S shut out PNB’s Tanvi Sharma in a hard-fought match. After losing the first game 16-21, Rakshitha stepped up the ante to take the next two games at 21-14 and 21-18. In the last quarterfinals, Tanvi Patri of Odisha too had to wage a grim battle to subdue Aakarshi Kashyap of Chhattisgarh. Tanvi won the first game at 21-16 but lost the next at 12-21. In the decider, both the shuttlers fought tooth and nail before Tanvi prevailed 22-20.
The women’s semifinals will have three unseeded players with Surya Charishma being the only seed to survive the cull.
Men’s fourth seed Ginapaul too falls by the wayside
The men’s singles mostly went to form and rankings with the only exception being fourth seed Ginapaul Sonna of Delhi. He was beaten by seventh seed Bharat Raghav of Haryana 21-17, 21-13. Top seed Kiran George of RBi defeated 11th seed Rounak Chouhan of Chhattisgarh 21-18 and 21-18. Second seed M Tharun of Telangana kept his date with the final as he defeated Haryana’s Manraj Singh 21-13, 22-20. Rithvik Sanjeevi S of Tamil Nadu took the remaining semis slot by defeating Satish Kumar K 21-13, 22-20.
Results: Women’s singles (QFs): Shruti Mundada (MAH) bt 2-Anupama Upadhyaya (DLI) 22-20, 21-12; 5-Surya Charishma Tamiri (AP) bt 1-Unnati Hooda (HAR) 21-12, 21-15; Rakshitha Sree S (TS) bt Tanvi Sharma (PNB) 16-21, 21-14, 21-18; Tanvi Patri (ORI) bt Aakarshi Kashyap (CG) 21-16, 12-21, 22-20. Round of 16: 1-Unnati Hooda (Har) bt Meghana Reddy M (TS) 19-21, 21-14, 21-12; 5-Surya Charishma Tamiri (AP) bt 11-Sakshi Phogat (Raj) 21-12,21-9; Tanvi Sharma (PNB) bt 10-Devika Sihag (Har) 21-11, 10-21, 21-10; Tanvi Patri (Ori) bt Parul Choudhary (Raj) 21-14, 21-17; 2-Anupama Upadhyaya (Del) bt Anvi Rathore (Raj) 21-13, 21-5; Shruti Mundada (Mah) bt Deepshikha Singh (CAG) 21-19, 21-12; Rakshitha Sree S (TS) bt Sneha Lamba (Raj) 21-13, 21-11.
Men’s singles (QFs): Rithvik Sanjeevi S (TN) bt Sathish Kumar K (PET) 21-13, 22-20; 1-Kiran George (RBI) bt 11-Rounak Chouhan (CG) 21-18, 21-18; 7-Bharat Raghav (HAR) bt 4-Ginpaul Sonna (DLI) 21-17, 21-13; 2-Tharun M (TS) bt Manraj Singh (HAR) 21-13, 22-20. Round of 16: 11-Rounak Chouhan (CG) bt 6-Lakshay Sharma (PNB) 21-16, 21-16; Sathish Kumar K (PET) bt Naren Iyer (KTK) 13-21; 21-8, 21-15; 4-Ginpaul Sonna (DLI) bt Kartik Jindal (CAG) 21-13, 17-21, 21-15; 7-Bharat Raghav (Har) bt Rohan Kumar Anandas Raj Kumar (TS) 22-20, 21-16; 1-Kiran George (RBI) bt Lokesh Reddy K (TS) 21-14, 21-17; Rithvik Sanjeevi S (TN) bt Aryamann Tandon (Guj) 23-21, 21-12; 2-Tharun M (TS) bt Abhinav Garg (KTK) 21-15, 21-5.
Women’s doubles (QFs): 2-Priya Devi Konjengbam/ Shruti Mishra (MNP/UP) bt 6-Arathi Sara Sunil/ Varshini VS (KER/TN) 21-14, 21-9; 3-Shikha Gautam/ Ashwini Bhat K (KTK) bt Amolika Singh/ Deepshikha Singh (CAG) 21-16, 21-17. Round of 16: Amolika Singh/ Deepshikha Singh (CAG) bt Apoorva/ Sakshi Gahlawat (HAR) 21-5, 21-18; Riduvarshini Ramasamy/ Sania Sikkandar (TN) bt 1-Rutaparna Panda/ Swetaparna Panda (ORI) 21-16, 21-19; Vennala K/ Reshika U (TS/TN) bt 7-Pavithra Naveen/ Gowrikrishna T R (KER) 21-16, 21-18; 2-Priya Devi Konjengbam/ Shruti Mishra (MNP/UP) bt Zenith Abbigail/ Likhita Srisvastava (DLI) 21-16, 21-13; 8-Aparna Balan/ Simran Singhi (PET/MAH) bt Tanishka Deshpande/ Shruti Mundada (MAH) 21-17, 21-7; 6-Arathi Sara Sunil/ Varshini VS (KER/TN) bt Kanika Kanwal/ Bharti Pal (RLY) 21-14, 19-21, 21-15; 3-Shikha Gautam/ Ashwini Bhat K (KTK) bt Mahnoor Kaur/ Nimar Kaur Virk (CHG) 21-19, 21-11; Aanya Bisht/ Angel Punera (UTR) Purba Pratyasha Panda/ Harshitaa Rout (ORI) 21-10, 21-12.
Mixed doubles (QFs): 1-Ashith Surya/ Amrutha P (KTK) bt 8-Ayush Agarwal/ Shruti Mishra (UP) 21-11, 21-15; 3-Deep Rambhiya/ Sonali Mirkhelkar (MAH) bt Rohith M/ Riduvarshini Ramasamy (TN) 18-21, 21-12, 21-14; 2-Sathwik Reddy K/ Radhika SHARMA (TS/PNB) bt 5-Aman Farogh Sanjay/ Anagha Karandikar (MAH) 21-15, 19-21, 21-16; Nitin Kumar/ Kanika Kanwal (RLY) bt 4-Dhruv Rawat/ Maneesha K (UTR/RBI) 22-20, 20-22, 22-20.
Men’s doubles (Round of 16): 4-Deep Rambhiya/ Ashith Surya (MAH/KTK) bt Vishnu Kedhar Kode/ Venkata Harsha Vardhan Ra V (AP) 21-18, 21-19; Swarnaraj Borba/ Nibir Ranjan Choudhury (ASM) bt 3-Suraj Goala/ Dhruv Rawat (ASM/UTR) 21-18, 21-12; Bhargav Ram Arigela/ Viswa Tej Gobburu (AP) bt Abhishek Mondalika Venkat/ Sujey Tamboli (CG) 21-7, 21-13; Manjit Singh Khwairakpam/ Dingku Singh Konthoujam (MNP)bt Mohit Singh/ Harikesh Verma (CHG) 21-19, 13-21, 21-9; 5-Santhosh Gajendran/ Prakash Raj S (TN/KTK) bt Divyam Arora/ Lalramsanga C (UP/MIZ) 21-18, 21-13; 1-Hariharan Amsakarunan/ Ruban Kumar R (TN) bt Shyam Prasad/ Kamal Krishnan S (KER) 21-11, 21-19; 6-Arsh Mohammad/ Sanskar Saraswat (UP/RLY) bt Rishi V/ Sai Satya Sarvesh Yakala (PY) 21-16, 21-16; Mithileish P Krishnan/ Prejan (PY) bt Varshith Sri Sai Inturi/ Tarun K (TS/PET) 21-10, 21-10.
