On Wednesday, December 24, 2025, Indian female star shuttlers Unnati Hooda, Tanvi Sharma and Aakarshi Kashyap performed with brilliance at the 87th Senior National Badminton Championships being held in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. They, along with men’s shuttlers Rounak Chauhan and Sanskar Saraswat, have advanced in the next round of the tournament.
Top seed Unnati defeated Akanksha Matte, the wildcard player, by sets of 21-8, 21-18. Meanwhile, world junior silver medallist Tanvi ended her campaign against Shaina Manimuthu, the U-15 Asian Girls’ singles gold medallist, dominantly by 21-10, 21-14. In addition to that, Aakarshi won her round against Asian U-17 championship silver medallist Lakshya Rajesh by sets of 21-7, 21-9.
Kavya Marvaniya, however, lost her battle against Ashmita Chaliha, who won by 21-7, 21-11. Another upset of the day was 16th-seeded Purva Barve, who lost against M Meghana Reddy by sets of 21-19, 17-21, 18-21 in the round of 64.
Meanwhile, in the men’s singles event, 11th-seeded Chauhan edged past Ranveer Singh by sets of 21-9, 21-13. On the other hand, Sanskar, the Guwahati Masters Super 100 champion, ended in a dominant win over Shikhar Rallan by 1-11, 21-13.
Women’s shuttlers advance with huge numbers
The following day saw another showcase of women’s power play from Shruti Mundada, Parul Choudhary and Tanvi Patri. All three female shuttlers now join with Unnati, Tanvi, and Aakarshi to secure their spot in the pre-quarterfinals after defeating some high-ranked opponents on Thursday, December 25, 2025.
At the start, Shruti stood out against seventh seed Jiya Rawat with a confident win by 21-14, 21-9. Meanwhile, Parul set off a 2-1 lead to defeat her opponent by 18-21, 21-18, 21-12. Patri finished her campaign with a 22-20, 21-19 victory over eighth seed Isharani Baruah.
Also joining the women’s singles squad for the pre-quarters are second seed Anupama Upadhyaya and third seed Anmol Kharb.
The men’s singles event also saw some big highlights from Abhinav Garg and Rithvik Sanjeevi S securing their place in the pre-quarters. Garg defeated 10th seed Abhinav Thakur by sets of 21-19, 21-16, while Rithvik edged over 13th seed Orijit Chaliha by 21-15, 21-19. On the other hand, Aryaman Tandon secured victory over third seed M Raghu in the round of 32 by 17-21, 21-11, 21-14.
Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles event, Nitin Kumar and Kanika Kanwal defeated sixth seeds Kevin Wong CC and Pranavi N by sets of 23-21, 21-15.
