Preview: After a long gap of nine years, the senior National Badminton Championships finds itself under the spotlight following the participation of every top player in the country at the Divisional Sports Complex, Nagpur. From the Badminton Association of India’s gentle coercion to the increase in the prize money, speculations are rife about the reasons behind the participation of the top athletes in a tournament that they neglected over the years. Nonetheless, the tournament gets its shine once again with the entry of players like Kidambi Srikanth, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, Parupalli Kashyap, Sai Praneeth and Ajay Jayaram. All these players will be in action on Monday after receiving byes till the pre-quarterfinal stage and it will be a chance for the home crowd to see their favourite players live in action on Indian soil and not just seeing them winning the International tournaments. Apart from these big names, the presence of 16-year-old Lakshya Sen, the world’s top junior and Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy trainee, has also piqued the interest in the senior Nationals. The young winner of the Bulgarian Open earlier this year is strongly favoured to give the established stars a run for their money and has got off to a brisk start by winning his singles rubber against Maisnam Meiraba 21-13, 12-21, 21-13.
Highlights, National Badminton Championships, result: Kidambi Srikanth, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal enter semis
Catch all the live score and updates from the 82nd Senior National Badminton Championships.
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Here’s the schedule for tomorrow:
Saina vs Anura
Sindhu vs Ruthvika
Prannoy vs Subhankar
Srikanth vs Lakshya Sen
Subhankar Dey beats B Sai Praneeth: 13-21, 21-18, 22-20
To come from a game down and beat a higher-ranked shuttler is just outstanding. What an emphatic win for the 24-year-old Dey to enter the semi-finals after a well-deserved win in three games. With that win, he sets up a semi-final clash with HS Prannoy tomorrow!
14-10! B Sai Praneeth has opened up a four-point lead over Shubhankar Dey in the deciding game.
The duo won 1 game apiece and it looks like the third and final game will go down the wire.
Kidambi Srikanth through to semis!
A hard-fought 21-17, 23-21 win for Srikanth who was stretched in the second game by eighth seed Shubham Prajapati. The recently-crowned World No 2 had to change his on-court position at times to unsettle Prajapati. He will face Lakshya Sen in the semi-finals next.
An entertaining match for the neutrals there. Prannoy hung on till the very last in both the games to come out victorious. Onto the semi-finals!
PV Sindhu seals semi-final berth
A comprehensive win for the top-seeded shuttler from Andhra Pradesh against Shriyanshi Pardeshi in straight games. Pardeshi tried her best to trouble Sindhu with a barrage of rallies but Sindhu’s clean returns proved to be a handful for the youngster.
HS Prannoy takes a 1-0 lead against Parupalli Kashyap: 22-20
This was a close encounter. Despite a slow start to the match, Prannoy upped his game to snatch the first stanza against a defensive Kashyap. The second game is underway.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty enter semis: 21-16, 21-18
The young duo showed great tenacity to beat the experienced pair of V Diju and Chetan Anand in straight games and book a place into the semis of the men’s doubles event.