Unnati, Tanvi, and Aakarshi advance

Also advancing to the next round were the experienced Aakarshi, who defeated Asian U-17 championships silver medallist Lakshya Rajesh 21-7, 21-9

Hyderabad: Women’s top seed Unnati Hooda, world junior championships silver medallists Tanvi Sharma, the experienced Aakarshi Kashyap and upcoming junior Rounak Chauhan registered convincing wins to advance in the 87th Senior National Badminton Championships in Vijayawada on Wednesday.

Unnati, who had a bye in the first round, hammered wildcard entrant Akanksha Matte 21-8, 21-18, while Tanvi began her campaign with a 21-10, 21-14 win over Asian U-15 girls singles gold medallist Shaina Manimuthu.

---

Also advancing to the next round were the experienced Aakarshi, who defeated Asian U-17 championships silver medallist Lakshya Rajesh 21-7, 21-9, while Ashmita Chaliha got the better of Kavya Marvaniya 21-7, 21-11.

The 16th seed Purva Barve was the only seeded player to bite the dust as she went down 21-19, 17-21, 18-21 against M Meghana Reddy in the round of 64.

In the men’s singles event, 11th seed Chauhan defeated Ranveer Singh 21-9, 21-13, while 12th seed D S Saneeth beat Ankit Mondal 21-7, 21-11 to book their spots in the next round.

Guwahati Masters Super 100 champions Sanskar Saraswat also began his campaign in style with a 21-11, 21-13 win over Shikhar Rallan.