Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], December 21 : Former champions Mithun Manjunath and Sourabh Varma banked on their experience to pack off their much younger opponents in the second round of the 86th Senior Nationals Badminton tournament in Bengaluru on Saturday.
According to a release from the Badminton Association of India (BAI), Mithun defeated third seed Bharat Raghav 21-9, 21-18 before Varma got the better of Abhinav Garg 21-17, 21-17 in the men's singles second round matches. Defending champion Chirag Sen also started his campaign in style with a 21-15, 21-15 win over Jeet Patel.
In women's singles, Anmol Kharb hammered Deepali Gupta 21-8, 21-6 to make her intentions clear, last edition's losing finalist Tanvi Sharma also eased into the third round with a 21-8, 21-6 win over Flora Engineer.
While the favourites put their best foot forward, there were a few upsets that underlined the depth of talent in Indian badminton.
In women's singles, Rujula Ramu upset 10th seed Surya Charishma Tamiri 21-19, 19-21, 21-17 while Jiya Rawat came from a game behind to beat 9th seed Shruti Mundada 25-27, 21-14, 21-10.
In the men's singles section, Rohan Gurbani proved too good for 11th seed K Lokesh Reddy, winning 21-15, 21-1 while Raghu M defeated 15th Karthik Jindal 21-19, 21-16.
It was the win of experience over youth in women's doubles with Kanika Kanwal and Bharti Pal teaming together to upset sixth seeds Amrutha P and Radhika Sharma 25-23, 21-17.
The 86th Senior National Badminton Championships, marking the culmination of an exciting domestic season that has witnessed the emergence of young talent and the resurgence of seasoned players, is being held from December 18-24 at the Karnataka Badminton Association courts.
This marks the third time Bengaluru is hosting the senior nationals since the turn of the century. The championships carry a total prize purse of Rs 50 lakh, including Rs 10 lakh for the team championships.