Odisha State Badminton Association (OSBA), with the support of the Odisha State Department of Sports & Youth Services Department, hosted the Yonex-Sunrise All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament for the first time at two venues _ 
Dalmia Bharat Gopichand Badminton HPC, Kalinga Stadium and MPIS, Pokhariput _ in Bhubaneswar from 8 to 15 July 2025.

Over 1100 players from different states vied for honours in five events. But the eight-day tournament proved to be a forgettable one as none of the Odisha players could reach the pre-quarterfinal stage in any of the five events.

Among the Odisha competitors, Jagadeesh K, Arya Majhi and Ayush Dash qualified for the 64-player mens singles main draw, where all three lost in the first round. In the womens singles main draw, featuring 64 players, the campaign of Harshitaa Rout and Geetashree Dey also ended in the first round.

Odisha was expected to do well in mens doubles with the presence of Abinash Mohanty-Ayush Pattnayak and Chandra Kumar D-Jagadeesh K qualifying in the 32-pair main draw. But both the pairs bowed out in the opening round. Odisha duo of Harshitaa Rout and Purba Pratyasha Panda too were eliminated in the opening round of the womens doubles main draw.

The mixed doubles main draw featured three players from Odisha. Doubles specialist Vishakha Toppo combined with Kerala partner Bjorn Jaison, while Harshitaa teamed up with statemate Tanmaya Kumar Sahu. But the results continued to be heart-breaking with both the pairs losing in the first round.

However, the tournament provided a good platform for Odisha badminton athletes to know where they stand in the national circuit. Among other Odisha players, Bapun Rout, Abhijit Kumar Jena, Mario Redden Nathaniel, Arabinda Sahu, Abhijit Maharana, Amlan Keshari Garnaik, Anirban Samanta, Manikanta D, Pradesh Kumar Naik, Paras Mathur, Soumen Sekhar Das, Shreyansh Parida, Amrit Mohanty, Pratik Kumar Behera and Sidharth Nayak were able to win a match or two.

Though Odisha has the reputation of producing national and international medal winners in badminton, the current generation of players are allegedly going through a tough time due to lack of a proper support system and the high-handedness of OSBA.
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PHOTO: Odisha player Arya Majhi in action during the All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament in Bhubaneswar.