Senior National Badminton: Upsets Galore as Anmol Kharb and Ayush Shetty Exit in Pre-Quarterfinals
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Bengaluru, Dec 22 (NationPress) In a surprising turn of events, lower-ranked athletes took charge as all the top six seeds in the women’s singles category, including the defending champion Anmol Kharb, faced early exits during the pre-quarterfinals of the Senior National Badminton Championships.
Anmol, who recently competed in the finals of the Guwahati Masters Super 100 tournament, was defeated by 12th seed Shriyanshi Valishetty with scores of 21-12, 21-15. Meanwhile, 16th seed Tasnim Mir overcame the top seed Aakarshi Kashyap with a score of 21-19, 21-17.
On other courts, 15th seed Shreya Lele showcased her talent by coming back from a game down to defeat former champion and second seed Anupama Upadhaya with scores of 13-21, 21-18, 21-14. 13th seed Devika Sihag maintained her focus and defeated fourth seed and last edition's runner-up Tanvi Sharma 21-19, 21-18. Additionally, unseeded Rujula Ramu eliminated fifth seed Mansi Singh with scores of 21-19, 20-22, 21-13, while 14th seed Sakshi Phogat ended the tournament for sixth seed Adita Rao 21-18, 21-19.
With the highest seed remaining, seventh seed Isharani Baruah triumphed over the promising Rakshita Sree S 23-21, 21-19 and will face Tasnim Mir in the quarterfinals.
On the men’s side, former world junior championships bronze medallist and second seed Ayush Shetty was the highest-ranked player to be eliminated, losing to 14th seed Alap Mishra with scores of 21-15, 11-21, 21-5.
National Games gold medalist M Tharun fell short against former champion Mithun Manjunath, losing 21-18, 21-12.
In the doubles events, there were more surprises as the women's doubles top seeds Rutuparna and Shwetparna Panda lost 16-21, 16-21 to junior national champions Tanoo Chandra and Lalrempuii. Moreover, Shreya Balaji and Deepta S eliminated fifth seeds Prerana Avlekar and Mrunmayee Deshpande with scores of 21-18, 23-21.
In mixed doubles, Ayush Agarwal and Shruti Mishra performed well together, defeating sixth seed Sathwik Reddy K and Vaishnavi Khadkekar 21-18, 21-14, while Shivam Sharma and Poorvisha S Ram triumphed over fifth seeds Ashith Surya and Amrutha P 12-21, 21-19, 21-18.
