Top players sail ahead in all-India badminton meet

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 22

Top seed shuttlers had an easy day during the opening day of Maharaja Agrasen All-India Open Prize Money Masters Badminton Tournament today, being played at the Sector 38 Sports Complex.

Top seed Pankaj Nathani defeated Harsimran Singh 21-7, 21-6 to move ahead in the men’s 35 years’ singles pre-quarterfinals.

The championship is being conducted under the aegis of the Chandigarh Badminton Association and has witnessed participation by more than 700 players in the age groups from 35 years to 75 years in singles, doubles and mixed doubles events.

The championship was inaugurated by Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Gian Chand Gupta and Director Sports, UT Administration, Tejdeep Singh Saini. All matches are being conducted following the Covid protocol, said the organisers.

Meanwhile, in the Round-32 matches of men’s 35 years’ singles category, Dr Vivek Kaushik outplayed Simardeep Singh Nagpal 21-7 21-6, Dr Manish Chaudhry outclassed Manpreet Singh Jal 21-10 21-17, Sarabjit Singh faced a tough resistance from Anuj Talwar before logging 21-23 26-24 21-13 win and third seed Anuj Bhaskar overpowered Vinay Thakur 21-10 21-10. In other one-sided matches, Varinder Singh blanked Vikram Nagpal 21-13 21-7, Anish Sharma ousted Ravi Srivastava 21-15 21-19, Mukesh Kumar defeated Arun Kumar 21-18 21-15 and Mohammad Munir beat Prince Sharma 21-12 21-17.

In the men’s singles 40 years’ event, top seed Abhinn Shyam Gupta ousted Vinod Kumar 21-7 21-4.

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