Badminton Nationals: Sourabh Varma beats Lakshya Sen in final, Rituparna Das clinches women’s title

Patna: Seasoned campaigner Sourabh Varma used all his experience to deny Lakshya Sen a fairytale end as he tamed the new badminton sensation in straight games in the summit clash to emerge men’s singles champion at the 81st Senior Badminton National Championship in Patna on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_3272012” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rituparna Das and Sourabh Verma, winners of women’s and men’s singles at the 81st Badminton National Championship. PTI[/caption] Third seed Verma walked away with a 21-13 21-12 win over the junior world number one, who made a lasting impression with his game in this tournament. Varma dominated the 33-minute contest in which he won 42 points to 25 of his rival. The women’s singles title was lifted by second seed Rituparna Das, who brushed aside the challenge of ninth seed Reshma Karthik 21-21 21-14 in 28 minutes in the final. The men’s doubles crown was taken by third seed pair of Satwik Sai Raj R and Chirag Shetty, who overcame a stiff resistance from Nanda Gopal K and Sanyam Shukla 21-17 16-21 21-14 in a battle of 54 minutes. The women’s doubles title was annexed by third seeds Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant, who hardly broke a sweat in beating Shikha Gautam and Sanyogita Ghorpade 21-9 21-11 in 24 minutes. The top seeded pair of Satwik Sai Raj R and Maneesha K took the mixed doubles crown with a hard fought 21-14 21-18 win over second seeds Venket Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan.