Young Indian stars rose to the occasion on home soil on Saturday, with Unnati Hooda, Isharani Baruah and Kiran George advancing to the finals of the Odisha Masters 2025 after impressive semifinal performances at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium.
In the women’s singles, India has assured itself of the title with an all-Indian final. Top seed Unnati Hooda displayed resilience and maturity to overcome compatriot Tasnim Mir in a three-game semifinal, rallying after dropping the opening game to win 18-21, 21-16, 21-16. In the other semifinal, Isharani Baruah staged a strong comeback against Tanya Hemanth, winning 18-21, 21-7, 21-7 to set up a high-stakes final between two emerging Indian talents.
The men’s singles final will also feature Indian interest, with second seed Kiran George entering the summit clash after a hard-fought victory over fellow Indian Ronak Chauhan. George held his nerve in the decider to seal a 21-19, 8-21, 21-18 win and will now take on Indonesia’s Mohammad Yusuf, who advanced to the final with a straight-games win in the semifinals.
Indian pairs, however, bowed out in the semifinals of the doubles events after spirited efforts against higher-ranked foreign opponents. In mixed doubles, the Indian duo of S. Kanpuram and R. Utheyasuriyan fought hard but went down to an Indonesian pair in straight games. The Indian women’s doubles combination of Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam also exited at the semifinal stage, losing to a strong Malaysian team.
Despite the tough competition in doubles, the overall performance of Indian shuttlers has been encouraging, particularly in singles, highlighting the growing depth of the country’s talent pool at the international level.
All eyes will now be on Unnati Hooda, Isharani Baruah, and Kiran George as they look to cap India’s campaign with silverware on Sunday, December 14, when all five finals will be played. A strong showing in the finals would further underline India’s rising stature in international badminton, especially when competing on home soil.
Discussion about this post