Tasnim Mir produced two power-packed performances on Sunday to enter the women’s singles semifinals at the 2024 Senior National Badminton Championship at the KBA courts here.
In the morning, the 19-year-old from Gujarat ousted top seed Aakarshi Kashyap 21-19, 21-17 in the pre-quarters before returning late afternoon to send the seventh seed from Assam Isharani Baruah home, 21-16, 21-18.
The contest against Baruah was neck and neck for most part, but in both games, Mir, coached by former National champion Arvind Bhat, found a higher gear towards the home stretch.
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She impressed with her defence and covered every inch of the court. And when in position, she finished off points with powerful smashes and drives, one of which from the forehand side gave her the match.
On the day, seven of the remaining top-eight women’s seeds in the main draw, including defending champion Anmol Kharb, crashed out across the last-16 and last-eight stages.
Among men, top seed K. Sathish Kumar from Tamil Nadu eased into the semifinals while Ayush Shetty, the second seed from Railways, went out in the round-of-16.
The results (quarterfinals):
Men: K. Sathish Kumar (TN) bt Kaushal Dharmamer (Rly) 21-11, 21-12; Rounak Chouhan (Chg) bt Alap Mishra (MP) 21-10, 21-16; Mithun Manjunath (Rly) bt Sanskar Saraswat (Raj) 21-9, 21-9; M. Raghu (Kar) bt Rohan Gurbani (Mah) 21-17, 21-13.
Women: Tasnim Mir (Guj) bt Isharani Baruah (Asm) 21-16, 21-18; Devika Sihag (Har) bt Rujula Ramu (Kar) 17-21, 21-19, 21-16; N.B. Adarshini Shri (TN) bt Shreya Lele (Guj) 23-21, 21-12; Shriyanshi Valishetty (Tel) bt Sakshi Phogat (Raj) 21-13, 21-14.
