Senior Badminton Nationals: Unnati, Tanvi, Sanskar, Chauhan begin campaign in style

Vijayawada, Dec 24 (PTI) Rising shuttlers Unnati Hooda, Tanvi Sharma, Rounak Chauhan and Sanskar Saraswat registered convincing wins to advance in the 87th Senior National Badminton Championships here on Wednesday.

Top seed Unnati, who had a bye in the first round, hammered wildcard entrant Akanksha Matte 21-8, 21-18, while world junior championships silver medallists Tanvi began her campaign with a 21-10, 21-14 win over Asian U-15 girls singles gold medallist Shaina Manimuthu.

Guwahati Masters Super 100 champion Sanskar also began his campaign in style with a 21-11, 21-13 win over Shikhar Rallan in men's singles.

Also advancing to the next round was the experienced Aakarshi Kashyap, who defeated Asian U-17 championships silver medallist Lakshya Rajesh 21-7, 21-9, while Ashmita Chaliha got the better of Kavya Marvaniya 21-7, 21-11.

Purva Barve, seeded 16th, was the only seeded player to bite the dust as she went down 21-19, 17-21, 18-21 against M Meghana Reddy in the round of 64.

In the men’s singles event, 11th seed Chauhan defeated Ranveer Singh 21-9, 21-13, while 12th seed D S Saneeth beat Ankit Mondal 21-7, 21-11 to book their spots in the next round. PTI ATK APA APA