Charge of youth at badminton Nationals

Trupti Murgunde could not fathom what had hit her as she surrendered without a fight. Anup Sridhar was a tad better, he did put up a fight and even tried to bully his opponent with some aggressive body language but the younger brigade not just proved that they have more fire in their belly.

Defending women's champion Murgunde was hammered 21-18, 21-12 in 32 minutes by Arundhati Pantawane of Maharashtra while second seed Anup went down against junior national champion Sai Praneeth 21-17, 21-14 in the pre-quarterfinals of the Senior national badminton championship here on Saturday.

The two experienced players were done in by their opponents ability to make them play one extra stroke to earn their points.

Arundhati went into her last 16 encounter against Murgunde with a 0-4 head to head record and a nervous start. But as the rallies prolonged and the top seed began attempting tighter strokes the Maharashtra girl could not resist a smile while looking at her coach, - she was in with a chance this time.

With the opener in the pocket, Arundhati had to just keep up the pressure by hurrying the defending champion and she did that to perfection to set up a last eight clash with junior national champion PV Sindhu.

The men's singles pre-quarterfinal encounter between Praneeth and Anup was much more intense, as the first had to not just counter Anup's experience but also his 6'3'' frame.

But the youngster played every shot in the book and the former national champion was found lacking. The 16th seed will now play 15th seed Guru Sai Dutt, who defeated HS Prannoy 21-9, 21-6 in the other match.