Badminton News: Former World No. 1 juniors Anupama Upadhyaya and Mithun Manjunath recorded contrasting victories to claim the women’s singles and men’s singles titles at the 84th Indua National Senior Badminton Championships at Balewadi Stadium, Pune on Tuesday .
Anupama, 18, beat Aakarshi Kashyap 20-22, 21-17 and 24-22 in an hour and 18 minutes in the women’s singles final before Mithun topped the men’s singles elite against Priyanshu Rajawat for 21- 16, 21-11 in just 38 minutes.
Top seeds Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly were crowned the new women’s doubles champions while T Hemanagendra Babu and Kanika Kanwal took the mixed doubles crown.
The women’s singles final was fierce, with both players battling for every point. The experienced Aakarshi fought back 11-15 in the opener winning seven of the next eight points and taking the game on second match point.
But the reversal only made Anupama more determined to attack as he started with a 3-0 lead in the second set, extended it to 9-1 and then held the lead to force the decision maker.
The 18-year-old from Haryana looked close to the title and the Rs 3.25 lakh purse as she opened a 17-10 lead in the decider. But Aakarshi will not give up.
The world number 42 battled his opponent in long rallies and leveled at 17-17 to score an eye-catching finish and even had a match point saved by Anupama with a shuttle that fell after hitting the net.
To his credit, Anupama kept his nerves under pressure, was aggressive when it mattered and jumped on mistakes made by his opponent to register his first victory over Aakarshi and win the biggest title of his career.
If fans were hoping for another humdinger in the men’s final, Mithun’s superior defense and game strategy of not leaving Rajawat under pressure often meant the railroad commuter was always in control.
Both Mithun and Rajawat were a little cautious in their opening rallies and the latter took a 10-9 lead before the eventual champions snatched five straight points to take the lead and race to win the game.
The second game turned into a one-sided game after Rajawat failed to find a solution and Mithun showed his creativity at the net.
Article Tags: Anupama Upadhyay, Mithun Manjunath, Indian National Championship 2023
“Thinker. Food advocate. Incurable coffee enthusiast. Communicator. Proud student. Zombie buff. Tv fanatic. Extreme troublemaker.”
