-PTI
On Monday, Karnataka beat Maharashtra 3-0 in the men’s team semifinals of the 76th Inter-Zonal-Inter-State and 85th Senior National badminton tournaments.
In the summit fight, Karnataka will face off against the Airports Authority of India (AAI). In the second semifinal, AAI defeated a spirited Indian Railways 3-1.
Karnataka got off to a flying start thanks to S. Bhargav, who defeated Arya Bhivpathaki in a three-game thriller.
M. Raghu extended Karnataka’s advantage to 24-22, 21-19 with a straight-game victory over Harsheel Dani. Prakash Raj and Ashith Surya’s doubles combo closed off the third match and the tie with a 21-19, 24-22 victory over Deep Rambhiya and Akshan Shetty. The doubles match, on the other hand, promised to go the distance.
In the second set, the Karnataka duo saved three game points, and it took a jump smash from Prakash at 23-22 to secure the deal in Karnataka’s advantage.
In the other men’s team last four encounter, AAI won the first two singles sets before Railways’ doubles duo of Pruthvi Roy and Sankarprasad Udayakumar won against AAI’s Alap Mishra and P.S. Ravikrishna.
In the fourth match, India’s No.1 Kartikey Gulshan Kumar fought to beat a tenacious Kaushal Dharmamer 14-21, 21-15, 21-14 to secure the tie for AAI.
Late in the evening, AAI advanced to the final of the women’s team event, defeating Railways 3-2. Maharashtra defeated Punjab 3-2 in the other women’s team semifinal.
Featured Image: Sportstar-The Hindu