Qualifier M Meiraba Luwang wins first All India Senior Ranking tourney title

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Apr 18 : Manipur's ace shuttler Maisnam Meirba Luwang clinched the senior title at the Yonex Sunrise All India Senior Ranking  Badminton Tournament 2023 hosted at Bahadurgarh, Haryana from April 12 by Haryana Badminton Association.
The tourney where Meiraba started as a qualifier, will also serve as Indian team selection event for upcoming Asian Games and Sudirman Cup. As many as 1721 players from across the country including 944 players for the men's singles event participated in the tournament.
Meiraba got a first round bye in the qualifying round and opened his campaign defeating Shaurya Pant of Uttarakhand 15/7, 15/14 and went on to beat Shehil Md of Kerala 13/15, 15/9, 16/14 for the second win.
In the fourth round, Meiraba defeated Dev Maheshwori of Uttar Pradesh 15/9, 15/10 and secured a 15/6, 15/8 win over Manish Phogat of Rajasthan in the fifth round to qualify for the main draw.
In the main draw, Meiraba defeated Yash Yogi of Chandigarh 21/13, 21/14; Arya Bhivpathaki of Maharashtra 21/17, 21/13 and Tarun Reddy of Telangana 21/15, 21/14 in succession to storm into the last-8 round.
In the quarter final, Meiraba got the better of Kartikey Gulshan Kumar of Delhi before beating Siddhanth Gupta of Tamil Nadu  21/15, 21/18 in the semi-final to book the final ticket.
In the ultimate clash, Meiraba eased to a   21/17, 21/12 win over Bharat Raghav to claim the top honour.