Panaji: Maharashtra’s Harsheel Dani kept his nerves at the business end of the decider to upset top seed Kiran George of Kerala while the experienced Sourabh Varma of Madhya Pradesh gave third seed Karthikey Gulshan Kumar of Delhi a tactical lesson is game plan to advance to the badminton men’s singles semifinals of the 37th National Games at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium here on Sunday.
Dani, who reached the semifinals of the senior nationals earlier this year, got the better of Kiran 21-11, 18-21, 21-19 in 52 minutes quarterfinal clash while Varma packed off Gulshan Kumar 21-14, 21-12.
In the women’s section, top seed Aakarshi Kashyap of Chattisgarh had to once again dig deep to beat Maharashtra’s Shruti Mundada to book her semifinal berth. The world no. 38, who had to save five match points in her first-round match against Goa’s Anura Prabhudesai in the morning session, won 21-14, 19-21, 21-11 in the quarterfinals.
But it was the clash between Dani and Kiran that kept the spectators rooted to their chairs till the last minute. The Maharashtra shuttler began strong and took a huge lead in the opening game and maintained the advantage.
However, the side drift seemed to trouble him in the second game and George pounced on his opponent’s predictable game plan to force a decider. The third and final game saw both the players engaging in long rallies before Kiran opened up a 19-17 lead.
Dani then played the patience game, controlled the net well and forced his opponent to make mistakes, bagging four straight points to set up a semifinal clash against Varma.
Earlier, Varma was in his element against Gulshan Kumar, mixing up the speed of the rallies. He simply did not allow the younger opponent to settle down in any kind of rhythm and tighten the noose slowly but surely.
The other men’s singles semifinal will see second seed and reigning national champion M Mithun take on fourth M Tharun on Monday.
In the women’s singles semifinals, top seed Kashyap will now face fourth seed and reigning national champion Anupama Upadhaya of Haryana while Aditi Bhatt of Uttarakhand takes on M Meghana Reddy of Telangana.
In the net ball competition that started on Sunday, defending champion Haryana men and women started their campaign on a winning note. The men’s defeated Maharashtra 63-48 in their Group A clash while their women’s team got the better of Himachal Pradesh 44-35
Important results
Badminton (all quarterfinals)
Men’s singles: Sourabh Varma (MP) bt 3-Karthikey Gulshan Kumar (Del) 21-14, 21-12; 4-M Tharun (Tel) bt Alap Mishra (MP) 21-16, 21-7; M Mithun (Kar) bt Abhishek Saini (Chd) 21-16, 21-12; Harsheel Dani (Mah) bt 1-Kiran George (Ker) 21-11, 18-21, 21-19
Women’s singles: M Meghna Reddy (Tel) bt Mansi Singh (UP) 21-10, 21-15; Aditi Bhatt (Utr) bt Adita Rao (Guj) 21-11, 21-14; 1-Aakarshi Kashyap (Chattisgarh) bt Shruti Mundada (Mah) 21-14, 19-21, 21-11; 4-Anupama Upadhyaya (Har) bt Isharani Baruah (Asm) 21-16, 16-21, 21-12
Men’s doubles: HV Nithin/K Pruthvi Roy (Kar) bt Arjun Fallary/Tejan Fallary 21-17, 21-12; Hariharan/R Ruban Kumar (TN) bt Manjit Singh Khwairakpam/Dingku Singh Konthoujam (Man) 21-16, 21-12; Vaibhav/Prakash Raj (Kar) bt Siddharth Elango/Achutaditya Rao (TN) 21-15, 16-21, 21-18; 1-Deepa Rambhiya/Akshan Shetty (Mah) bt Gouse Shaikh/Venkata Harsha (AP) 21-10, 21-17
Women’s doubles: Simran Singhi/Ritika Thaker (Mah) bt Anagha Karandikar/Lydia Barretto (Goa) 21-10, 21-11; 1-Shikha Gautam/Ashwini Bhat (Kar) bt Shivani Singh/Ridhi Toor (Har) 21-10, 21-19; Kavya Gupta/Deepshikha Singh (Del) bt Priya Devi Konjengbam/Mahesnwari Devi Kshetrimanyum (Man) 21-15, 21-23, 21-13; 2-R Arubala/V S Varshini (TN) bt Khushi Gupta/Kanika Kanwal (Del) 21-16, 21-16
Mixed doubles: 1-Navneeth Bokka/K Maneesha (Tel) bt HV Nithin/Ramya Venkatesh (Kar) 21-14, 19-21, 21-16; 2-Nitin Kumar/Kanika Kanwal (Del) bt Siddharth Elango/Vaishnavi Khadkekar (Tel) 21-15, 21-18; Suraj Goala/Manali Bora (Asm) bt H Arunesh/Pranjal Chimulkar (Goa) 21-13, 21-14; Gouse Shaikh/D Pooja (AP) bt Dingku Singh/Priya Devi (Man) 30-28, 21-18
Netball
Men:
Group A: Haryana bt Maharashtra 63-48, Jammu and Kashmir bt Goa 52-50
Group B: Delhi bt Kerala 58-41; Karnataka bt Telangana 61-44
Women:
Group A: Haryana bt Himachal Pradesh 44-35, Telangana bt Goa 52-46
