M. Raghu stunned top seed K. Sathish Kumar in straight games to enter his maiden National final.
| Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR
Karnataka’s M. Raghu entered his maiden men’s singles final at the Senior National Badminton Championship following a convincing 21-17, 21-17 victory over top seed K. Sathish Kumar of Tamil Nadu at the KBA courts here on Monday.
In the summit clash, the 26-year-old will meet Statemate Mithun Manjunath — representing Railways — who beat Chhattisgarh’s Rounak Chouhan 21-15, 21-13. For Mithun, it will be a chance to win his second National title after his success two editions ago (2022 held in February 2023).
The women’s final will be between Haryana’s Devika Sihag and Telangana’s Shriyanshi Valishetty who beat Tamil Nadu’s N.B. Adarshini Shri and Gujarat’s Tasnim Mir respectively.
It was sweet revenge for Raghu after having been ousted by Sathish in just 28 minutes just over a week ago at the Odisha Masters BWF Super 100. The local boy played a clean first game, erased a four-point deficit twice in the second before triumphing when Sathish sent a forehand drive long.
The results (semifinals): Singles: Men: M. Raghu (Kar) bt K. Sathish Kumar (TN) 21-17, 21-17; Mithun Manjunath (Rly) bt Rounak Chouhan (Chg) 21-15, 21-13.
Women: Devika Sihag (Har) bt N.B. Adarshini Shri (TN) 21-13, 21-10; Shriyanshi Valishetty (Tel) bt Tasnim Mir (Guj) 25-23, 21-13.
Doubles: Men: P. Naveen & V. Lokesh (TN) bt Ashith Surya & Vaibhaav (Kar) 17-21, 21-12, 22-20; Arsh Mohammad (UP) & Sanskar Saraswat (Raj) bt Suraj Goala (Asm) & Dhruv Rawat (Utk) 14-21, 21-18, 21-19.
Women: Arathi Sara Sunil (Ker) & V.S. Varshini (TN) bt Aparna Balan (Pet) & Simran Singhi (Mah) 21-17, 21-14; Priya Devi Konjengbam (Mnp) & Shruti Mishra (UP) bt Shikha Gautam & K. Ashwini Bhat (Kar) 22-20, 16-21, 21-12.
Mixed doubles: Rohan Kapoor (Del) & G. Ruthvika Shivani (Pet) bt Deep Rambhiya & Akshaya Warang (Mah) 21-16, 21-17; Ayush Agarwal & Shruti Mishra (UP) bt Shivam Sharma & Poorvisha S. Ram (RBI) 21-16, 21-19.
Published – December 23, 2024 09:30 pm IST
