Varun Sahakari led Goa’s charge as qualification rounds began on the opening day of the Yonex-Sunrise U-13 National Ranking Badminton Tournament being held at Manohar Parrikar Indoor stadium at Navelim. Varun progressed via walkover against Sankeerth M.M. (Karnataka). Suven Sawant followed suit, advancing after Abhiram Mahan Puttapakula (Telangana) conceded, giving the hosts a positive start in the qualification rounds. Ayansh Sanke, however, went down to Purab Karki (Uttarakhand) 15-4, 15-3, while Mihir Chafadkar lost to Atif Hoque (West Bengal) 15-4, 15-8. Shourya Sinari also exited after a 15-7, 15-11 defeat to Hadhi Hamdhan (Kerala), highlighting the strong national field.
Among the top-ranked contenders, second seed Aaditya P. Guna (Karnataka) cruised past Parvan K. (Kerala) 15-2, 15-3, while Mcdonald Colaco (Maharashtra) registered a dominant 15-9, 15-1 win over Aarsh Kashyap (Telangana). Arnav Prakash (Telangana) edged Vaibhav Harish Udupa (Karnataka) 15-8, 17-15, and Aaryan Choksi, GUJ, def. Abhinav Arya, MP, 21-19, 16-18, 16-14 in a lengthy three set match.
Earlier, the prestigious national ranking tournament was inaugurated by Yogiraj Kamat, Sports Promoter, in the presence of GBA officials Manoj Patil (President), Praveen Shenoy (Secretary), Vrushali Cardozo (Vice President), Vinayak Kamat (Organising Secretary), D. Dinesh (Referee), Sandeep Heble (former Secretary) among others, setting the tone for an exciting week of sub-junior badminton in Goa.
