Guwahati Masters badminton tournament: Sanskar Saraswat takes first Super 100 title; Tanvi Sharma finishes second | Badminton News – The Times of India

India’s Sanskar Saraswat secured his maiden Super 100 title on Sunday by beating compatriot Mithun Manjunath in the men’s singles final of the Guwahati Masters.The 19-year-old from Jodhpur showed exceptional skill and strength to win the all-Indian final 21-11, 17-21, 21-13 in a 50-minute match.In the women’s singles category, Tanvi Sharma, a silver medalist from the World Junior Championships, finished second after losing to Tung Ciou-Tong of Chinese Taipei 18-21, 18-21 in the final.The 16-year-old native of Punjab had recently reached the semi-finals of the Syed Modi International Super 300. She had also finished runner-up at the Odisha Masters, US Open Super 300 and World Junior Championships last year.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 Center of Excellence in Guwahati, has shown impressive progress in domestic competitions. He won his maiden senior national doubles title with Arsh Mohammad in Bengaluru last year and had previously won a junior title.Playing with his right leg heavily taped, Saraswat maintained a slight lead early in the match before Manjunath equalized at 7-7 in the first game. Saraswat had an 11-9 lead at the break and extended it to 14-10 with aggressive play. He dominated the opening match 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 half-time.Manjunath took advantage of Saraswat’s mistakes to win the second game and force a decisive third game.Saraswat started the final match strongly with a 7-0 lead. Despite Manjunath’s efforts to close the gap, Saraswat remained in control with an 11-5 lead at the break.After the break, Saraswat’s powerful strokes 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 national under-13 doubles title with Tushar Suveer and later claimed the national under-15 doubles championship with Bhuvan Singh in Bhubaneswar in 2019.In the women’s final, Tanvi and Tung took part in competitive rallies, with Tanvi taking an 11-8 lead midway through the match through varied shot selection.Tung recovered to level at 16-16 and took the first game after Tanvi made two incorrect smashes.In the second game, both players were tied at 5-5 and 6-6 before Tanvi built an 11-8 lead at the break, helped by Tung’s unforced errors.However, Tanvi’s consistency faltered due to several errors, allowing Tung to equalize at 13-13.Despite showing skill with smashes and drops all over the court, Tanvi’s unforced errors continued as Tung moved to 17-16.Two more errors gave Tung three match points. Although Tanvi saved one with a cross-court return, she lost the match when her final shot went wide.