Guwahati Masters badminton tournament: Sanskar Saraswat clinches maiden Super 100 title; Tanvi Sharma finishes as runner-up | Badminton News – The Times of India

Sanskar Saraswat (Screengrab)

Sanskar Saraswat of India secured his first Super 100 title by defeating fellow countryman Mithun Manjunath in the men’s singles final at the Guwahati Masters on Sunday.The 19-year-old from Jodhpur demonstrated exceptional skill and power, winning the all-Indian final 21-11, 17-21, 21-13 in a 50-minute match.In the women’s singles category, Tanvi Sharma, a world junior championships silver medalist, finished as runner-up after losing to Chinese Taipei’s Tung Ciou-Tong 18-21, 18-21 in the finals.The 16-year-old Punjab native had recently reached the semifinals at Syed Modi International Super 300. She had also been runner-up at the Odisha Masters last year, the US Open Super 300, and the World Junior Championships.The Indian men’s doubles team of Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Sai Pratheek K settled for second place, losing 13-21, 18-21 to Malaysian sixth seeds Kang Khai Xing and Aaron Tai.Saraswat, who trains at the National Centre of Excellence in Guwahati, has shown impressive progress in domestic competitions. He won his first senior national doubles title with Arsh Mohammad in Bengaluru last year and had previously won a junior singles title.Playing with his right leg heavily taped, Saraswat maintained a slight lead early in the match before Manjunath equalised at 7-7 in the first game. Saraswat held an 11-9 advantage at the interval and extended it to 14-10 with aggressive play. He dominated the opening game as Manjunath struggled to counter his cross-court and down-the-line smashes.In the second game, Saraswat initially led 8-2, but Manjunath fought back to level at 7-8 and took an 11-10 lead at the break.Manjunath capitalised on Saraswat’s errors to win the second game and force a decisive third game.Saraswat started the final game strongly with a 7-0 lead. Despite Manjunath’s attempts to close the gap, Saraswat maintained control with an 11-5 lead at the interval.After the break, Saraswat’s powerful smashes helped him extend his lead to 14-6. He eventually won the match on his second match point with a deep return.Saraswat’s badminton journey began under the guidance of his father Raj, a former national-level singles and doubles player.His early training at the Drona Sports Academy led to success in youth competitions. He won the under-13 national doubles title with Tushar Suveer and later claimed the under-15 national doubles championship with Bhuvan Singh in Bhubaneswar in 2019.In the women’s final, Tanvi and Tung engaged in competitive rallies, with Tanvi taking an 11-8 lead at the mid-game interval through varied shot selection.Tung recovered to level at 16-16 and took the first game after Tanvi made two erroneous smashes.The second game saw both players tied at 5-5 and 6-6 before Tanvi established an 11-8 lead at the interval, helped by Tung’s unforced errors.However, Tanvi’s consistency faltered with multiple mistakes, allowing Tung to equalise at 13-13.Despite showing skill with cross-court smashes and drops, Tanvi’s unforced errors continued as Tung moved ahead to 17-16.Two more mistakes gave Tung three match points. Though Tanvi saved one with a cross-court return, she lost the match when her final shot went wide.