Suryaksh shocks second-seed Saneeth, to take on Sathish for men’s badminton gold

Suryaksh Rawat of Uttarakhand upset second-seeded Karnataka’s D. S. Saneeth in the men’s badminton semifinals of the 38th National Games in Dehradun on Monday.
| Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar

Tamil Nadu’s S. Rudramayan created a National record by lifting 175kg in the snatch event of the men’s +109k event in the National Games.
| Photo Credit:
Ritu Raj Konwar
After keeping everyone guessing for the last few days, host Uttarakhand’s World No. 10 Lakshya Sen pulled out of the National Games badminton competition but Suryaksh Rawat nicely made up for the disappointment in the home camp by packing off Karnataka’s second-seeded D.S. Saneeth and entering the men’s singles final.
Just 16, the unseeded Rawat came up with a stunning display in the semifinal, recovering from 15-19, and took the last six points to win the decider 13-21, 22-20, 21-19.
“I didn’t make many mistakes, I kept it simple, went for long strokes,” said Rawat who will meet Tamil Nadu’s top-seeded K. Sathish Kumar in Tuesday’s gold-medal clash.
Meanwhile, in weightlifting, Tamil Nadu’s S. Rudramayan broke the snatch national record raising it to 175kg (OR 172) in the men’s plus-109kg event but could only end up with the overall silver (total 355kg). Services’ Lovepreet Singh took the gold with 367kg.
“I was expecting gold but clean-and-jerk let me down a bit,” said Rudramayan. “My dad Soronamuthu, a Commonwealth Games medallist in 1990, is my coach.
Later Punjab’s Mehak Sharma was on a record-breaking spree in the women’s above 87kg event, bettering the records in snatch (new 106kg), clean-and-jerk (141) and total (247) to win the gold comfortably.
Senthil and Akanksha strike gold
Tamil Nadu’s Velavan Senthil Kumar and Goa’s Akanksha Salunkhe won the men’s and women’s titles in squash at Pithoragaarh.
In swimming, Dhinidhi Desinghu broke the Games record in the women’s 400m freestyle by nearly three seconds to add more sparkle to her impressive medal haul at Haldwani.
The results: Squash (finals): Men: Velavan Senthil Kumar (TN) bt Rahul Baitha (Mah) 11-6, 11-9, 11-7.
Women: Akanksha Salunkhe (Goa) bt Anjali Semwal (Mah) 11-6, 11-9, 11-7.
Badminton (singles semifinals): Men: K. Sathish Kumat bt Kushal Dharmamer (Mah) 21-10, 21-9; Suryaksh Rawat bt D.S. Saneeth (Kar) 13-21, 22-20, 21-19.
Women: Anupama Upadhyaya (Del) bt Shreya Lele (Guj) 17-21, 21-19, 21-15; Anmol Kharb (Har) bt Tasnim Mir (21-16, 16-21, 21-19.
Swimming (winners only): Men: 800m freestyle: Kushagra Rawat (Del) 8:12.89s. 50m backstroke: Srihari Nataraj (Kar) 26.09s. 200m medley: Shoan Ganguly (Kar) 2:06.61s.
Women: 400m freestyle: Dhinidhi Desinghu (Kar) 4:24.60s MR, OR 4:27.93. 50m backstroke: Vihitha Nayana (Kar) 31.46s. 200m medley: Saanvi Deshwal (Mah) 2:24.90s.
Mixed: 4x100m freestyle relay: Karnataka 3:41.03s.
Published – February 03, 2025 08:35 pm IST
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