Vijayawada, Dec 27: In a series of stunning upsets at the Senior National Badminton Championships, Surya Charishma Tamiri and Shruti Mundada knocked out the top two seeds to storm into the semifinals on Friday.
Surya Charishma overpowered top seed Unnati Hooda 21-12, 21-15 in just 36 minutes, while Shruti Mundada defeated second seed and former national champion Anupama Upadhyaya 22-20, 21-12 in 39 minutes. In the semifinals, Surya Charishma will face Rakshita Sree, who came from a game down to beat Tanvi Sharma, the World Junior Championships silver medallist, 16-21, 21-14, 21-18.
In men’s singles, top seed Kiran George edged past 11th seed Rounak Chauhan 21-18, 21-18 in 41 minutes and will meet 2024 Odisha Open champion Rithvik Sanjeevi S, who defeated K Sathish Kumar 21-13, 22-20. The other men’s semifinal will see second seed M Tharun face unseeded Bharat Raghav, with both having secured hard-fought quarterfinal wins.
The women’s doubles category also saw an upset, as top seeds Rutuparna and Swetaparna Panda were ousted in the pre-quarterfinals by Riduvarshini Ramasamy and Sania Sikkandar, 21-16, 21-19.
Earlier, rising juniors Tanvi Sharma, Rounak Chauhan, and Tanvi Patri continued their strong run, securing quarterfinal berths. Tanvi Sharma defeated 10th seed Devika Sihag 21-11, 10-21, 21-10, while Patri beat Parul Choudhary 21-14, 21-17.
The tournament continues to witness thrilling clashes, with both seasoned players and emerging talents battling for supremacy at Vijayawada.