Qualifiers C Rahul Yadav and Ketan Chahal upset the applecart of fourth seed Shreyansh Jaiswal and ninth seed B Chetan Anand in the men’s singles first round to bring the V V Natu Memorial Amanora All India Badminton Senior Ranking tournament to life at the WIE Complex here on Friday.
The tournament is being organised by Poona District & Metropolitan Badminton Association under the auspices of Maharashtra Badminton Association and the Badminton Association of India.
In the women’s singles event, Maharashtra’s Karishma Wadkar upset 16th seed G M Nischitha, while seventh seed Saili Rane was given marching orders by former national champion Aditi Mutatkar, who had to come through qualifying because she had been out of action for over five months due to injury.
However, the stars of the day were undoubtedly Rahul and Chahal, who showed no nerves while taking on much higher ranked players.
Sixteen-year-old Rahul, who trains at the Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, staved off pressure on the closing stages of both games to get the better of Jaiswal 22-20, 21-19. He will now face H S Prannoy in the second round.
In the other first round game, Chahal stunned multiple time national champion Chetan 21-14. 16-21, 21-16 in 50 minutes. Chahal showed that he had a lot more in the tank in the decider to get the better of a player who was once ranked among the top-20 in the world.
Chahal will now face Delhi’s Mayank Behal in the second round.
Maharashtra shuttlers have a good outing
Qualifiers Wadkar and Shlok Ramchandran led the charge of the hosts in the first round and came out triumphant against their senior challengers.
Sixteen-year-old Wadkar, who trains at the Shuttlecraze Badminton Academy in Mumbai, showed that age was no barrier as she not only matched Nischitha in the rallies but could even step on the accelerator when needed to win 21-12, 18-21, 21-8 in just 31 minutes.
In the men’s singles, Shlok hammered Nikhilesh Sharma 21-6, 21-7 to advance.
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