Badminton News: Defending champion Sourabh Verma will fail to defend his 2023 Indian National Championship title after losing to unranked Kerala player Mithun Manjunath.

Sourabh Verma, 30,’s dream of winning her fourth badminton national title came crashing down when she lost to 28-year-old Mithun Manjunath in a grueling quarter-final match in rubber matches 21- 15, 19-21, 19-21 in the 84th Indian National Badminton Championships 2023 at Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Mhalunge-Balewadi on Sunday.

In the other quarter-final, the men’s singles second seed Kidambi Srikanth survived the clash to fight another day after winning a three-game match against Gulshan Kumar Kartikey 21-10, 18-21, 21-16.

Second seed Kidambi Srikanth is the only top-eight seed to advance to the last four and is a chance for the player to end his three-year wait for a title.

In other bouts, Priyanshu Rajawat defeated Kiran George, who had beaten top seed HS Prannoy the day before, in back-to-back matches.

In the women’s quarter-finals, Aakarshi Kashyap beat Devika Sihag 19-21, 21-13, 21-13, while third seed Adita Rao beat Ira Sharma 21-16, 21-15 to set up her half- final. match against Aakarshi.

India’s top mixed doubles pair Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto had to withdraw from the national team after Ishaan suffered a serious injury in their quarter-final match against Hemanagendra Babu T/Kanika Kanwal duo on Sunday.

The Ishaan/Tanisha pair led 21-14 12-13 when Ishaan landed on his right foot in an effort to fire from behind. The landing was bad and Ishaan twisted his knee and fell to the pitch in pain.

Article Tags: Sourabh Verma, Mithun Manjunath, Indian National Championship 2023