National Badminton | Anmol emulates Saina; Chirag outlasts Tharun

Chirag Sen & Anmol Kharb win men's & women's singles titles respectively at 85th Senior National Badminton Championships.

It has been a productive three months for Chirag Sen of Indian Railways. He has got the better of quite a few higher-ranked players in international tournaments, beginning with the Infosys Challenge in Bengaluru where he reached the semifinals.

And he ended the season on a high, winning the men’s singles title in the 85th senior National badminton championships on Sunday with a 21-14, 13-21, 21-9 victory over Telangana’s M. Tharun, the fourth seed, in the final.

Haryana’s Anmol Kharb was stretched by Tanvi Sharma of Punjab in the women’s final before a thigh strain forced the latter to retire with the score reading 15-21, 21-17, 16-8.

Tanvi began well by being aggressive from the backcourt and not giving any width to her opponent to unleash her smashes. She went on to win the opening game 21-15 and also took a 15-10 lead in the second. However, at 17-14, while rushing from the backcourt to retrieve a drop, Tanvi strained her right thigh and had a medical time-out.

She was never the same player again, losing the second game 21-17 and calling it quits while trailing 8-16 in the decider.

“I am happy to win the title at the age of 16. I am even more thrilled as my idol Saina Nehwal was also 16 when she became champion in 2006-07,” said Anmol.

The Chirag-Tharun match was expected to be a humdinger and turned out to be one. In the final game, after the players had split the first two, Chirag played like a man possessed, attacking at every opportunity. Once he led 15-9, it was curtains for Tharun.