Boys singles seventh seed Dhruv Rawat was the biggest casualty on the second day of the junior national badminton championships in Lucknow on Wednesday.

Rawat, 17, who trains at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, lost to local boy Vikas Yadav, 15, whose 22-20, 15-21, 21-13 win drew some cheers from the spectators at the Babu Banarasi Das Badminton Academy.

Rawat seemed to lose steam in the deciding game of the third-round match, even as Yadav received a yellow card as a warning from the umpire for protesting against a line call. Yadav played a good attacking game throughout the match and seemed to have more stamina than Rawat, whose body language took a severe hit in the decider.

Thirteenth seed Sai Charan Koya, 16, was also ousted in the third round by Govind K, 17, who fought back from a game down to win 15-21, 21-16, 21-19. Third seed Orijit Chaliha, 18, just about managed to avoid becoming the highest-ranked player to fall as he came back from a game down to beat the 17-year-old Rajan Yadav 14-21, 21-9, 21-18.

The top two seeds, Kiran George and Alap Mishra, both recorded facile straight-game wins. In girls singles, there were no major upsets as well, with the top three seeds – Aakarshi Kashyap, Malvika Bansod, and Purva Barve – all recording straightforward wins.

Senior Nationals in Guwahati

The senior national badminton championships will take place in Guwahati, the Badminton Association of India confirmed on Wednesday, just as Scroll.in had reported earlier this month. The senior nationals will be held from February 10-16 at the Kanaklata Indoor Stadium in Guwahati, as opposed to the earlier venue of Hyderabad.

Just like the previous edition in Nagpur in November 2017, participation in the senior nationals will be compulsory for India’s top shuttlers such as Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and K Srikanth. Players who are ranked in the world’s top-50 will be given a direct entry into the pre-quarterfinals, BAI Secretary (Events) Omar Rashid told Scroll.in. “It will be the same format as Nagpur,” he said.

With the senior nationals ending on February 16, Sindhu, Saina and Co will have 20 days after the event to prepare for the prestigious All England Open, which begins on March 6.