Indian shuttler Mithun Manjunath’s finished as runner-up on Sunday after a splendid run at the Orleans Masters Super 100 tournament.
His best week on the BWF tour ended with a straight-game loss to local favourite and fourth seed Toma Junior Popov in the summit clash on Sunday.
#OrleansMastersSuper100
— The Field (@thefield_in) April 3, 2022
🥈 Mithun Manjunath
IMithun 2nd in Orleans Masters at the end of a fine week for him. He fought hard in the 2nd game against 4th seed & local favourite Toma Junior Popov. The Indian had defeated HK Vittinghus in one of the earlier rounds. pic.twitter.com/p1cmpLQNoM
The 23-year-old Manjunath went down 21-11 21-19 to world number 32 Frenchman in 50 minutes, with the second game turning out to be a thrilling affair.
It was Majunath’s first Super 100 final. The unseeded Indian’s best result came in the pre-quarterfinals when he stunned world No. 22 and second seed at the event Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark.
The world number 79 has won four All-India ranking titles, including the All India Senior Ranking Badminton tournament in December last year.
He has had some impressive results this year, starting off well at the India Open before having to withdraw ahead of a much-anticipated tie against India’s H S Prannoy as he tested positive for COVID-19. However, he made a good comeback, reaching the last four at Lucknow in Syed Modi Super 300 and the quarters in Odisha in January. He was also part of the Indian team which competed at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Malaysia.