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.
“I have been struggling in singles for a while. First, I got confidence at the Infosys Challenge held in my Academy (Prakash Padukone) beating some good players. After being in the circuit for four years, I hadn’t played in any singles final. I am very happy now. The win over Kartikey Gulshan Kumar, the third seed, in the second round here, gave me the confidence that I can pull off tough matches,” said Chirag.
The results (finals): Men: Chirag Sen (Rlys) bt M. Tharun (TS) 21-14, 13-21, 21-9; Doubles: K. Pruthvi Roy (Rlys) & Suraj Goala (Asm) bt G. Krishna Prasad (AP) & P. Vishnuvardhan Goud (TS) 20-22, 24-22, 21-14.
Women: Anmol Kharb (Har) bt Tanvi Sharma (Pun) 15-21, 21-17, 16-8, retd.; Doubles: Priya Devi Konjenbgam (Man) & Sruti Mishra (UP) bt Ritika Thaker & Simran Singhi (Mah) 11-21, 21-14, 21-18.
Mixed doubles: Dhruv Kapila (Pun) & Tanisha Crasto (Goa) bt Nitin Kumar & Navdha Manglam (Del) 21-13, 21-8.
