In a repeat of last year’s final, brothers Sourabh and Sameer Verma will square off against each other at the 81st Senior National Badminton Championships at the Patili Putra Sports Complex in Patna but this time one round earlier. The second-seeded Sameer, who had defeated his elder brother in the summit clash in the last edition, set up the family affair by defeating the fifth-seeded Pratul Joshi, 21-9, 21-11 in the quarter-finals on Monday.
The third-seeded Sourabh, meanwhile, got the better of the former junior World No. 1 Siril Verma 21-16, 21-13 in his quarter-final.
Lakshya Sen continues progress
The other men’s singles semi-final will be between the current Junior World No. 1 Lakshya Sen and the Syed Modi International semi-finalist Harsheel Dani. A day after toppling the top seed HS Prannoy in the fourth round, the 15-year-old Sen continues his rampage through the draw as he held his nerves for yet another thrilling upset win.
The 14th seeded Sen needed 1 hour 1 minute to dismiss the seventh-seeded Daniel Farid S, 21-11, 19-21, 21-19. The fourth-seeded Harsheel Dani defeated Aditya Prakash 21-12, 21-18 for a semi-final berth.
Women’s singles top seed upset
There was a big upset in the women’s singles as the top seed Tanvi Lad was shown the door by the ninth-seeded Reshma Karthik, 20-22, 13-21 in 47 minutes. Karthik will take on wildcard Aakarshi Kashyap, who sent eighth seed Riya Pillai packing, 21-9, 21-14.
Second seed Rituparna Das had no such trouble as she smoothly made her way into the last-four. The 20-year-old Das ended the run of 13th seeded Rasika Raje, 21-17, 21-18 to set up a meeting with the experienced 14th seeded Arundhati Pantawane.
The latter battled hard for a tough 21-16, 17-21, 21-17 win over Saili Rane.
In mixed doubles, the top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and K Maneesha were in impeccable form in their quarter-final match against Sanjai Srivatsa D and Mithula UK and beat them, 21-10, 21-11. They will now face the seventh seeds Dhruv Kapila and Kuhoo Garg, who edged past the third seeds Sunjith S and Sruthi KP, 11-21, 21-18, 30-29.
The second semi-final will be contested between the second seeds Venkat Gaurav Prasad/Juhi Dewangan and fourth seeds Akshay Dewalkar/Aparna Balan.
While Dewalkar and Balan prevailed over Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh, 21-16, 21-16, Prasad and Dewangan eked out a 21-9, 13-21, 23-21 win over Shivam Sharma and Harika V.
