PUNE, Feb 25: Top seed and India No. 9 HS Prannoy suffered a shock second round defeat at the hands of Kiran George on a day several other seeded players fell by the wayside in the 84th Senior National Badminton Tournament here.
While George of Airport Authority of India (AAI) stunned Prannoy 21-12 21-15 in the day’s most sensational result, Aakarshi Kashyap knocked out second seed Tanya Hemant at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex.
In another men’s singles match, second seed Kidambi Srikanth also struggled before getting his act together against Manipur’s Maisnam Meiraba, who went down 19-21 21-18 17-21 after giving a good fight.
Srikanth managed to win a game point in the first game, but Meiraba bounced back in the second. The decider was no different, as both shuttlers were tied 13-13.
Srikanth put himself in a comfortable lead by winning the next four points in a row, but Meiraba didn’t let his opponent have an easy way out and again levelled the scores at 17-17. At that crucial juncture, Srikanth’s experience gave him the edge as he pocketed the game by winning the next four points.
In the women’s singles, Aakarshi impressed with her performance in the seniors.
All eyes were on Tanya, who had won the women’s singles title in the 31st Iran Fajr International Challenge in Tehran earlier this month. She started well with an 11-7 lead in the first game, but Aakarshi soon found the momentum and put Tanya in a tight corner with a 14-12 lead.
The second game saw Aakarshi enjoying a 12-6 lead, but Tanya again fought and levelled the scores at 16-16 and then at 20-20. In the end Aakarshi emerged the winner.
In other matches, Aditi Bhat knocked out seventh seed Saad Dharmadhikari 21-11 21-5, while 14th seed Deepshikha Singh went down to Surya Charishma Tamiri 14-21 21-10 11-21.
Eighth seeded Aashi Rawat also suffered an early exit as Ira Shrma scripted a 21-14 21-19 win over her ranked opponent. Bhavya Rashi defeated 12th seed Deepshika Neredimelli 21-8 13-21 21-14. (PTI)
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