Meiraba clinches maiden senior men's title in national ranking tournament
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, April 18 2023:
Manipur's Meiraba Luwang claimed his first title in the All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament.
He won the senior men's singles event in the Yonex Sunrise All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament 2023 at Bahadurgarh, Haryana on Monday.
Meiraba had little trouble beating Rajasthan's Manish Phogat 15-6, 15-8 in their summit clash.
In the qualifying round, the state lad who got a bye in the first round started off with a 15-7, 15-14 win over Shaurya Pant of Uttarakhand in the second round before he beat Kerala's Shehil Mohammed PK 13-15, 15-9, 16-14, UP's Dev Maheshwori 15-9, 15-10, and Rajasthan's Manish Phogat 15-6, 15-8 to qualify for the main draw.
In the main draw, Meiraba overcame three challengers Yash Yogi, Arya Bhivpathaki and Tarun Reddy K to progress to the quarterfinal round where he defeated fifth seed Kartikey Gulshan Kumar of Delhi before beating Tamil Nadu's Siddhanth Gupta 21-15, 21-18 on his way to the final.
The tournament was a selection event for India men's team for the upcoming Asian Games 2023 in China and Sudirman Cup, China.
The tournament saw a total of 1721 players across India, of which 944 played in the men's singles competition.