The much-anticipated international badminton championship ‘Odisha Masters 2025’ was inaugurated today at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Cuttack, marking the beginning of a week of high-octane international sporting action.
The tournament was formally inaugurated by Sachin Ramchandra Yadav, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the Department of Sports & Youth Services, Government of Odisha. The event was chaired by Rajesh Prabhakar Patil, President of the Odisha State Badminton Association. Distinguished dignitaries present included Yedula Vijay, Director, Sports & Youth Services Department; Dattatreya Bhausaheb Shinde, Collector, Cuttack; Venugopal Ramalingam, Tournament Manager, Badminton Asia Federation; and Nilin Kumar, Secretary, Odisha State Badminton Association.
The championship has drawn participation from top athletes representing 16 countries, competing across the categories of Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles. The opening day witnessed intense competition with 24 qualifying matches played in the morning session, sending all 24 winners into the main draw. The afternoon session featured 20 main draw matches.
Among the Indian shuttlers advancing from the qualifying rounds in singles were Ansh Vishal Gupta, Manav Choudhury, Ronak Chauhan, Numer Sheikh, Medhavi Nagar, Sanskar Saraswat, Aditya Divakar and Lokesh Reddy, while Chi Yun Cheng (Chinese Taipei), Nanami Someya (Japan) and Dalia Aghnia Puteri (Indonesia) also secured qualifications. Indian doubles pairs progressing include Vimlaraj Annadurai–Shreya Balaji, Rohit Mariswamy–Ridhee Kaur, V. Reddy–K. Selvam, Zenith Abigel–Likhita Srivastav, D. Vel Murugan–P. Natarajan, Nitin Kumar–Harsha Rana, K. Kumaravel–R. Mohan Kumar, VR Nardhana–Ridhuvarshini Ramaswamy, Aditi Bhatt–Shravani Balekar, N. Ishwar Murthy–D. Vel Murugan, Murali Krishna Kanuri–Abhijit Maharana and Sakshi Gahlawat–Tanisha Singh.
From the main draw matches completed by the time of reporting, Kevin Thangam, Sanith Dayanand and Tushar Subir (India) along with Mohammad Yusuf and Richie Ricardo (Indonesia) progressed to the next round.
The tournament, which carries a total prize purse of USD 110,000, is being conducted with the support of 10 BWF-nominated officials, 12 officials from the Badminton Association of India, and 46 officials from the Odisha State Badminton Association.
With the action intensifying from Day 1 itself, spectators can look forward to a thrilling week of world-class badminton as top shuttlers battle for glory in Cuttack.
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