Senior Badminton Nationals: Surya, Shruti send top two seeds packing to reach semis

Vijayawada, Dec 26 (PTI) Producing major upsets, local favourite Surya Charishma Tamiri and seasoned campaigner Shruti Mundada ousted the top two seeds -- Unnati Hooda and Anupama Upadhyaya -- in straight games to advance to the women's singles semifinals of the Senior National Badminton Championships, here Friday.

Surya was in complete control against top seed Unnati, sealing a 21-12, 21-15 quarterfinal win in 36 minutes, while Shruti accounted for second seed and former national champion Anupama 22-20, 21-12 in a 39-minute contest.

In the semi-finals, Surya will face Rakshita Sree after the 18-year-old came from a game down to beat world junior championships silver medallist Tanvi Sharma 16-21, 21-14, 21-18.

In the men’s singles category, top seed Kiran George had to work hard to overcome the challenge of 11th seed Rounak Chauhan 21-18, 21-18 in 41 minutes.

He will now face 2024 Odisha Open champion Rithvik Sanjeevi S, who defeated K Sathish Kumar 21-13, 22-20 in the other quarterfinal.

The other semifinal will see second seed Tharun Mannepalli take on unseeded Bharat Raghav. In the quarter finals, Tharun defeated Manraj Singh 21-13, 22-20, while Bharat got the better of Ginpaul Sonna 21-17, 21-13.

The top seeds in women’s doubles, Rutuparna and Swetaparna Panda were also knocked out in the pre-quarterfinal stage by Riduvarshini Ramasamy and Sania Sikkandar, who won 21-16, 21-19. PTI ATK AT