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The 37th National Games in Goa saw a thrilling set of finals take place at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium on October 24. The individual championships, which began on Sunday, October 22, saw the top-ranked shuttlers from all over the country battle it out on court.
In the end, Telangana's M. Tharun and Haryana's Anupama Upadhyaya claimed the men's and women's singles titles respectively, while Shikha Gautam/Ashwini Bhat, Gouse Shaikh/Pooja D., HV Nithin/K. Pruthvi Roy triumphed in the women’s doubles, mixed doubles, and men’s doubles categories respectively.
A closer look at the results:
In the men's singles final, M. Tharun took on the experienced shuttler Sourabh Varma. Tharun, who played a fantastic semifinal, continued to showcase his determination on the court in the final.
In a marathon match that lasted an hour and ten minutes, the young shuttler from Telangana eventually prevailed with a final score of 21-15, 16-21, 21-15. This victory marked a significant milestone for Tharun, who secured his first National Games gold.
Maharashtra's Harsheel Dani and Karnataka’s Mithun M., who had an extremely impressive tournament, narrowly missed out on a berth in the finals. Both shuttlers went down in three games in the semifinal. They clinched the bronze medals.
National champion Anupama Upadhyaya continued to dominate the domestic circuit as she secured the women's singles title. Her opponent in the final was Uttarakhand's Aditi Bhatt, who fought valiantly but couldn't manage to upset Anupama, who played an extremely stable game. The final score was 21-13, 21-18 in Upadhyaya's favor.
Meghana Reddy M. and Aakarshi Kashyap were the bronze medalists in the women's singles category.
The doubles events witnessed Karnataka bagging gold in both the men's and women's doubles events, solidifying their reputation as a powerhouse in Indian badminton.
In the women's doubles event, top-seeded pair Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat displayed their exceptional chemistry on the court. They emerged victorious by defeating Maharashtra's Ritika Thaker and Simran Singhi with a score of 21-11, 21-18 in a match that lasted merely 36 minutes. The bronze medals were secured by Delhi’s Kavya Gupta/ Deepshikha Singh and Tamil Nadu’s Arulbala R./ Varshini V. S.
The men's doubles final saw an exciting three-setter match, with the combination of HV Nithin and K Pruthvi Roy defeating India No. 3 Hariharan Amsakarunan and R Ruban Kumar of Tamil Nadu. The final scoreline read 15-21, 21-18, 21-18. The bronze medals in this category were claimed by Prakash Raj S./ Vaibhaav and Maharashtra’s Deep Rambhiya/ Akshan Shetty.
The mixed doubles event saw the duo of Gouse Shaikh and Pooja D. from Andhra Pradesh clinch the gold medal. They secured their victory with a commanding performance, defeating top-seeded pair Navaneeth Bokka and K Maneesha with a score of 21-8, 21-17. Suraj Goala/ Manali Bora and Nitin Kumar/ Kanika Kanwal claimed the bronze medals in this category.
