Top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap cruised to the next round but it was qualifier Shriyanshi Pardeshi of Air India who hogged the limelight after stunning former women national champion Trupti Murgunde in straight games at the 78th ATS Senior National Badminton Championship here on Friday.
The 17-year-old Pardeshi was much superior on the net and it helped her register a 21-17, 21-18 win over the eighth seed opponent at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here. She will now face M Aruna of Pondicherry.
"It is undoubtedly one of my biggest victories so far. This will give me a lot of confidence going ahead and I will try my best to go as far as possible in this competition from hereafter," Shriyanshi said after the match.
In the day’s other matches, favourites Sindhu and Kashyap sailed through the third round with relative ease.
Defending champion Kashyap, who had skipped the team event due to injury, said: "It was an easy match today. I am getting better with my fitness and was keen on playing."
The top seed further added, "It is not always that you get to defend your national title, so am looking forward to put up a good show."
While world championship bronze medallist Sindhu needed just 12 minutes to pack off Jaisy Bridgette 21-3, 21-15, Kashyap hammered Tejan Fallary 21-4, 21-7 in 14 minutes.
Also advancing to the next round were women’s singles third seed Arundhati Pantawane, fifth seed PC Thulasi and men’s third seed Ajay Jayaram, fourth seed Anand Pawar and fifth seed K Srikanth.
