Badminton: Seeded players sail safely to the second round, 10th-seeded Harshi Dani survives a scare
Pune, 24th February 2023: Maharashtra’s 10th-seeded Harshil Dani had to sweat hard before beating Kiran Kumar in the first round of the Yonex Sunrise 84th Senior National Badminton Tournament at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex, Mhalunge-Balewadi on Friday.
The tournament is organised by Poona District Metropolitan Badminton Association (PDMBA) under the auspices of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and Maharashtra Badminton Association and is sponsored by Dr Cyrus Poonawala and Venkey’s.
Kiran Kumar won the first game 21-16 and was leading 11-7 in the second to put Harshil under pressure. The experienced shuttler altered his game and focussed on speed and accuracy. This move earned him a leveller 13-13 and then went on to win the next five points in a row to pocket the game 21-17. Then it was no turning back for him and Harshil didn’t allow his opponent to pose a threat to his victory and entered second round with a 21-12 win in the third game.
Meanwhile, other ranked players like Ashmita Chaliha, and Sai Praneeth B. comfortably moved into the next round. In the women’s singles, Ashmita defeated Gowrikrishna T.R. 21-9, 21-12 while Prerana Alvekar prevailed over Pinky Karki 21-6, 20-22, 21-14. Malvika Bansod defeated Jananika R. 21-16, 21-11
In the men’s singles’ Arya Bhivpathaki started his campaign on a winning note. He defeated Riku Khape 24-22, 21-11.
Inauguration ceremony
The tournament was inaugurated by legendary Prakash Padukone. BAI vice president S. Murlidharan, Omar Rashid, Jaswinder Narang, Mangesh Kashikar, Vaibhav Dange, PDMBA’s Srikhant Wad, secretary Ranjeet Natu and Anna Natu graced the occasion.
In the 74-year history of Thomas Cup, India won for the first time in 2022. To celebrate this historic feat, Asif Papriya, Iqbal Maidargi, Leroy D’Sa, Sanjay Sharma, Ravi Kunte, Vijay Lensi, Akshay Dewalkar, Jishnu Sanyal, Nikhil Kanetkar, Uday Pawar, Anand Pawar, Chirag Shetty, who played for India in the Thomas Cup were honoured at the hand of Prakash Padukone. These players were given tramrapatra (ancient copper in scripture) and Puneri Pagdi. Datta Dhongage and Dipkanar
Results (Women’s singles; 1st round) Aditi Bhatt bt Janhavi Mahale 21-11, 21-10; Ashmita Chaliha bt Gowrikrishna T.R. 21-9, 21-12; Vijetha Harish bt Atmajayita Ray Barman 21-9, 21-9; Prashansa Bonam bt Namita Pathania 19-21, 21-19, 21-17; Prerana Alvekar bt Pinky Karki 21-16, 20-22, 21-14; Unnati Bisht bt Swagatika Rout 21-4, 21-6; Tanoo Chandra bt Rashika Das 21-8, 21-10; Shekhotolu Puro bt Tejaswani Thakur 21-13, 21-10; Neha Pandit bt Sunandita Bista 21-5, 21-6; Malvika Bansod bt Jananika R. 21-16, 21-11; Rikshita Chaliha bt Angita Naorem 21-13, 21-14
(Men’s singles; 1st round) Kiran George bt Sankar Muthusamy S. 21-12, 21-13; Arya Bhivpathaki bt Riku Khape 24-22, 21-11; Harsheel Dani [10] bt Kiran Kumar M. 16-21, 21-17, 21-12; Abhinav Thakur bt Sidarth T. 21-13, 21-16; Sai Praneeth B. bt Pruthvi Roy K. 21-13, 21-19.
Men’s doubles (1st round) Deep Rambhiya/Akshan Shetty (3) bt Samaksh Dhalta/Parthiv Parthiv 21-7 21-9; Manjit Singh Khwairakpam/Dingku Singh Konthoujam (6) bt Sohail Ahmed/Himanshu Tiwari 20-22, 21-11, 21-15
