National Games 2023: Tharun, Anupama clinch men's, women's singles badminton gold medal

Panaji: Telangana shuttler M Tharun and Haryana’s Anupama Upadhayaya clinched the men’s and women’s singles badminton gold, winning their respective finals in contrasting styles at the 37th National Games in Panaji on Tuesday. Tharun overcame the experienced Sourabh Varma 21-15, 16-21, 21-15 in an hour and 10 minutes, while national champion Anupama defeated Uttarakhand’s Aditi Bhatt 21-13, 21-18. Karnataka won both the men’s and women’s doubles titles in badminton. Women’s doubles top seeds Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat defeated Maharashtra’s Ritika Thaker and Simran Singhi 21-11 21-18, while the pair of HV Sunil and K Pruthvi Roy upset top seeds Hariharan Amsakarunan and R Ruban Kumar of Tamil Nadu 15-21 21-18 21-18 in the men’s doubles. The Andhra Pradesh mixed doubles badminton pair of Gouse Shaikh and D Pooja clinched gold with a 21-8 21-17 victory over top seeds Navaneeth Bokka and K Maneesha. Tharun, who had upset national champion M Mithun in the semifinal, played an aggressive game and went for big smashes. It worked for the Telangana shuttler, who opened up 12-8 lead. Varma managed to close the gap at 16-15, but Tharun bagged the next five points to close out the game. The experienced Varma then began engaging his opponent in rallies, which allowed him to take control of the proceedings and force a decider. However, Tharun was well-prepared for the decider and took an 11-5 lead. Sensing that his senior opponent was under pressure, Tharun stuck to his aggressive approach and induced errors in Varma’s game to win gold. In netball, defending champions Haryana men entered the final with a 60-58 victory over Delhi. They will take on Kerala, who defeated Jammu and Kashmir 59-41, in the gold-medal match. Services and Tamil Nadu cagers sealed their spots in the men’s basketball 5x5 semifinal from Pool B. Services defeated Rajasthan 81-60 while Tamil Nadu got the better of Kerala 82-46. In women’s basketball, Maharashtra kept their hopes of qualifying for the semifinals alive with a 77-48 win over Delhi in Pool B. Karnataka defeated Tamil Nadu 69-51 in another match. The badminton preliminary round matches had started on October 19, while the National Games will officially commence on Thursday. Important results: Badminton (Finals): Men’s singles: M Tharun (Tel) bt Sourabh Varma (MP) 21-15, 16-21, 21-15; Men’s doubles: HV Nithin/K Pruthvi Roy (Kar) bt Hariharan Amsakarunan/R Ruban Kumar 15-21, 21-18, 21-18; Women’s singles: Anupama Upadhayaya (Har) bt Aditi Bhatt (Utr) 21-13, 21-18; Women’s doubles: Shikha Gautam/Ashwini Bhat (Kar) bt Ritika Thaker/Simran Singhi (Mah) 21-11, 21-18; Mixed doubles: Gouse Shaikh/D Pooja (AP) bt 1-Navaneeth Bokka/K Maneesha (Tel) 21-8, 21-17.