After Lakshya Sen pulled out of the 38th National Games 2025; Uttarakhand’s Suryaksh Rawat clinched a nail-biting victory over Karnataka’s second-seeded D.S. Saneeth to enter the men’s singles final in the Badminton Championships on Monday.
The 16-year-old overturned the first-game deficit to clinch six consecutive points to win the decider 13-21, 22-20, 21-19.
He will take on Tamil Nadu’s top-seeded K. Sathish Kumar in Tuesday’s gold-medal clash.
“I didn’t make many mistakes, I kept it simple, went for long strokes,” Rawat said.
Incidentally, double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu has been witness to the teenager’s talent at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy and earmarked him as a ‘rare talent’ for the future.
“An absolute no-brainer in terms of talent, in my opinion. I watch him play often during practice at PPBA and truly hope he comes into his own. A rare talent with excellent defense, and many other qualities. Wishing you the best, Suryaksh!,” Sindhu said on X.
His entry in the final will add to the host state team’s performance in the National Games after securing nine medals, including a gold and two silvers in Wushu.
Uttarakhand has also displayed its strong forte in other disciplines such as, beach handball, Yogasana, and boxing.