National Badminton Championships: Anmol to meet Tanvi in women’s final

In the 85th Senior National badminton championships here, the finalists in the women’s section are just 16 years and 15 years of age!

Anmol Kharb of Haryana (16), the reigning National U-17 girls’ champion, displayed confidence and maturity beyond her age to outwit second seed and favourite Ashmita Chaliha of Petroleum 21-17, 21-19 on Saturday, while Tanvi Sharma (15) of Punjab overcame a spirited challenge from Isharani Baruah of Assam 21-15, 20-22, 21-14.

M. Tharun of Telangana faced his first major test, and he came out with all guns blazing to script a 21-11, 16-21, 21-19 win over Bharat Raghav of Haryana in the men’s singles semifinals.

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Tharun, seeded fourth, will face Chirag Sen of Indian Railways in the final. Chirag was outstanding in his 21-18, 21-18 victory over second seed Kiran George of RBI in the other semifinal.

Throughout the first game, Bharat was subdued and only in the second half of the second game did he start to attack with vigour. And the third game was even-stevens.

Leading 20-17, Tharun received a yellow card for delaying the game and at 20-18, he protested a line call and then he hit a forehand long. It looked like he would lose his cool. But he didn’t have to wait longer as he finished the point with a forehand crosscourt winner.

Chirag was a bit scratchy in the beginning and made far too many unforced errors early in the first game. He, however, phased his middle and end game wonderfully well to enter his maiden final.

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To keep a player of Kiran’s calibre quiet is not easy, but Chirag got his focus right, and the key was his smashes were spot-on most of the times.

Anmol was a deserving winner. The reigning National u-17 girls’ champion pushed Ashmita to all parts of the court. At the net, she was far better and from the backcourt, she dictated the rallies more often than not. Ashmita, for her part, made far too many unforced errors and paid the price. Barring a few eye-catching crosscourt smashes, she didn’t do much.