Senior Badminton Nationals: Surya Charishma Tamiri, Shruti Mundada produce major upsets, knock top two seeds out to reach semis

VIJAYAWADA: Producing major upsets, local favourite Surya Charishma Tamiri and seasoned campaigner Shruti Mundada ousted the top two seeds -- Unnati Hooda and Anupama Upadhyaya -- in straight games to advance to the women's singles semifinals of the Senior National Badminton Championships, on Friday.

Surya was in complete control against top seed Unnati, sealing a 21-12, 21-15 quarterfinal win in 36 minutes, while Shruti accounted for second seed and former national champion Anupama 22-20, 21-12 in a 39-minute contest.



In the semi-finals, Surya will face Rakshita Sree after the 18-year-old came from a game down to beat world junior championships silver medallist Tanvi Sharma 16-21, 21-14, 21-18.

In the men’s singles category, top seed Kiran George had to work hard to overcome the challenge of 11th seed Rounak Chauhan 21-18, 21-18 in 41 minutes.

He will now face 2024 Odisha Open champion Rithvik Sanjeevi S, who defeated K Sathish Kumar 21-13, 22-20 in the other quarterfinal.

The other semifinal will see second seed Tharun Mannepalli take on unseeded Bharat Raghav. In the quarter finals, Tharun defeated Manraj Singh 21-13, 22-20, while Bharat got the better of Ginpaul Sonna 21-17, 21-13.

The top seeds in women’s doubles, Rutuparna and Swetaparna Panda were also knocked out in the pre-quarterfinal stage by Riduvarshini Ramasamy and Sania Sikkandar, who won 21-16, 21-19.