Surya, Rithvik claim women’s and men’s titles in National Badminton Championships

Vijayawada, Dec 28 (PTI) Surya Charishma Tamiri defeated Tanvi Patri and Rithvik Sanjeevi got the better of Bharat Raghav to win the women’s and men’s titles respectively in the Senior National Badminton Championships here on Sunday.

The 19-year-old Surya from Vijayawada defeated Tanvi 17-21, 21-12, 21-14 in the women’s singles final which lasted close to an hour.

At the midway stage in the opening game, Tanvi took control of the match and frustrated her opponent to induce unforced errors.

One such error happened at 6-5 in the second game as Surya hit a service return in the net. But the service judge called it a fault for height which gave her a reprieve.

Surya then went on to win seven consecutive points to take control of the second game.

In the decider, Surya engaged Tanvi in long rallies and the tiredness began to show on the youngster.

Though Tanvi tried to keep pace with her opponent, she clearly ran out of steam as Surya wrapped up the match with six straight points from 15-14 onwards.

In the men’s singles final, Rithvik relied on his superior defence and composure to overcome Bharat.

Having pocketed the opening game without much trouble, Rithvik was under pressure in the second game as his opponent took a 9-5 lead.

The 2024 Odisha Masters winner Rithvik bagged six consecutive points to regain the lead and it felt like he would cruise to win, before two bad judgement calls allowed Bharat to fight back and even earn a game point.

But to his credit, Rithvik kept his cool and stuck to his game plan and wrapped up the match in 39 minutes.

The experienced pair of Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat K clinched the women’s doubles crown, beating second seeds Priya Devi Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra 21-14, 21-18.

In the men’s doubles final, the top seeds Hariharan Amsakarunan and R Ruban Kumar defeated Mithileish P Krishnan and Prejan 21-17, 21-12.

Sathwik Reddy K and Radhika Sharma, second seeds, upset top billed Ashith Surya and Amrutha P 21-9, 21-15 to clinch the mixed doubles title. PTI DDV UNG