Major Upset at Senior Nationals: Defending Champion Anmol Kharb and Top Six Women Seeds Knocked Out in Pre-Quarterfinals
Unseeded Players Shine as Women’s Singles Top Seeds Fall Early; Shock Results Across Men’s, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles Events at Yonex-Sunrise 86th Senior National Badminton Championships
BNH NETWORK
Bengaluru - In a dramatic turn of events at the Yonex-Sunrise 86th Senior National Badminton Championships, all top six women’s singles seeds, including defending champion Anmol Kharb, were knocked out in the pre-quarterfinal stage, as lower-ranked players stole the show.
The women’s singles competition saw a series of upsets on a cool Sunday morning in Bengaluru. Defending champion Anmol Kharb, fresh from her recent runner-up finish at the Guwahati Masters Super 100, was ousted by 12th seed Shriyanshi Valishetty in straight games, 21-12, 21-15. Meanwhile, 16th seed Tasnim Mir stunned the top seed Aakarshi Kashyap, winning 21-19, 21-17.
Other surprising results included 15th seed Shreya Lele, who came from a game down to defeat former champion and second seed Anupama Upadhaya 13-21, 21-18, 21-14. 13th seed Devika Sihag maintained her composure to defeat fourth seed and last edition’s runner-up Tanvi Sharma 21-19, 21-18. Unseeded Rujula Ramu caused yet another upset by defeating fifth seed Mansi Singh 21-19, 20-22, 21-13, while 14th seed Sakshi Phogat ended Adita Rao’s campaign with a 21-18, 21-19 victory.
With the top six seeds eliminated, Isharani Baruah, seeded 7th, emerged as the highest seed remaining in the competition. She overcame the promising Rakshita Sree S 23-21, 21-19 and will now face Tasnim Mir in the quarter-finals.
In the men's singles, former world junior championships bronze medallist and second seed Ayush Shetty became the highest-ranked casualty of the day, falling 21-15, 11-21, 21-5 to 14th seed Alap Mishra. National Games gold medallist M Tharun was also outclassed by former champion Mithun Manjunath, losing 21-18, 21-12.
There was no shortage of surprises in the doubles events either. In women’s doubles, top seeds Rutuparna and Shwetparna Panda were defeated 16-21, 16-21 by junior national champions Tanoo Chandra and Lalrempuii. Shreya Balaji and Deepta S also stunned fifth seeds Prerana Avlekar and Mrunmayee Deshpande with a 21-18, 23-21 win.
In mixed doubles, Ayush Agarwal and Shruti Mishra ousted sixth seed Sathwik Reddy K and Vaishnavi Khadkekar 21-18, 21-14, while Shivam Sharma and Poorvisha S Ram triumphed over fifth seeds Ashith Surya and Amrutha P 12-21, 21-19, 21-18.
As the tournament progresses, the upsets have set the stage for an exciting finish, with unseeded players proving that the competition remains wide open across all categories.
