The schedule, as expected, went haywire as matches ended past 1 a.m. on Saturday and water kept leaking from roof on Court No.5.
On the positive side, there were some exciting, close games in the men’s second round matches of the 81st edition of the Nationals, here, on Saturday.
While Daniel Farid of Karnataka, seeded seventh, saved five match points to outlast Rohit Yadav (AAI) 21-15, 14-21, 24-22, there was no such luck for Shreyansh Jaiswal of Chhattisgarh, the sixth seed.
Aditya Prakash, who has been recovering from an injury to his toe for a while, put it across the Shreyansh 19-21, 21-17, 21-11. Later in the day, Kaushal Dharmamer of AAI produced the second upset of the day, by defeating Shubham Prajapati of Madhya Pradesh 21-7, 22-20.
The day, however, belonged to PSBB’s Aditya Prakash, a trainee of Prakash Padukone Academy in Bangalore.
After sharing a game each, Aditya took the game away from the sixth seed in the third game. From a lead of 4-2, Aditya’s game took wings. His crosscourt and down-the-line smashes, coupled with fine net play kept him ahead. When the players changed sides, Aditya was leading 11-6. But by then, it was clear that Shreyansh had given up.
It was easy going for the top seeds H.S. Prannoy and Tanvi Lad, both from PSPB. Prannoy toyed with Saurabh Pardeyar (HP) 21-10, 21-12 while Tanvi defeated Preety Singh of Meghalaya 21-12, 21-11.
Rituparna Das, the women’s second seed, representing Telangana, huffed and puffed to beat Kanika Kanwal (AI) 21-11, 16-21, 21-10. Among the top women’s players, it was only the third seeded K. Sri Krishna Priya defeated Riya Mookerjee of Uttar Pradesh 21-12, 21-14.
The results (Second round):
Men: Aditya Prakash (PSPB) bt Shreyansh Jaiswal (Cht) 19-21, 21-17, 21-11; Bodhit Joshi (Utr) bt Karan Rajan 21-14, 13-21, 21-13; M. Mithun (AAI) bt Prem Singh Chouhan (LIC) 21-18, 21-17; Munawer Mohammed (Ker) bt Safi Akram 21-14, 21-8; H.S. Prannoy (PSPB) bt Saurabh Pardeyar (HP) 21-10, 21-12; Lakshya Sen (Utr) bt Lalhlimpuia (Miz) 21-4, 21-8; S. Daniel Farid (Kar) bt Rohit Yadav 21-15, 14-21, 24-22; Harsheel Dani (Mah) bt Ankur Sangpang Rai (Nag) 21-11, 21-11; Kaushal Dharmamer (AAI) bt Shubham Prajapati (MP) 21-7, 22-20; Neeraj Vashisth (Rly) bt Aswin Paul (Ker) 21-14, 21-12; Sourabh Verma (PSPB) bt Nikhilesh Sarma (Asm) 21-10, 21-12; M.G. Hemanth (Kar) bt Gaurav Parmar (CAG) 21-16, 21-14; Pratul Joshi (AAI) bt R.K. Manajit Singh (Miz) 21-13, 21-10
Women: Shruti Mundada (Mah) bt Megha Bora Morchara (Asm) 21-12, 21-13; Anura Prabhudesai (AAI) bt Meghana Kulkarni (Kar) 21-3, 21-9; Tanvi Lad (PSPB) bt Preety Singh (Meg) 21-12, 21-11; K. Sri Krishna Priya (TS) bt Riya Mookerjee (UP) 21-12, 21-14; Shriyanshi Pardeshi (MP) bt Priyanka Kumawat (Raj) 21-12, 21-14; Arundhati Pantawane (PSPB) bt Mudra Dhainje (Mah) 23-21, 21-12.
Saili Rane (Rly) bt Vaishnavi Bhale (Mah) 21-11, 16-21, 21-14; Sai Uttejitha Rao Ch. (AP) bt Vibha Jitendra Prasad (Bih) 21-7, 21-11; Rasike Raje (AAI) bt Deyashi Kanjibiliya (Jhr) 21-8, 21-9; Neha Pandit (Mah) bt Sanya Sethi (Cht) 21-9, 21-13.
Ananya Goel (Del) bt Sheshadri Shanyal (WB) 21-11, 21-9; Shenan Christian (Guj) bt Angita Naorem (Man) 21-17, 21-9; Rituparna Das (TS) bt Kanika Kanwal (AI) 21-11, 16-21, 21-10; Anuriya Das (Rly) bt Yajum Laa (ANP) 17-21, 21-7, 21-15 .
