Jaipur: Himaksh shocked second seed Siddhant Singh on the opening day of the Shri O N Dixit Memorial Winter Jaipur District Open Badminton Championship, organised by the Jaipur District Badminton Association (JDBA), at the SMS Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.Around 500 players in the age group of 11 to 75 years are competing in the six-day long annual tournament. More than 300 matches were played on the inaugural day. The most exciting match was played in the U-13 boys category where Himaksh upset second seed Siddhant Singh. Other seeded players advanced to their next rounds.In the U-11 boys singles, 16 players including seeded Naitik Bansal and Lakshit Rewar, entered the third round.In the U-11 girls singles, top 16 players, including first seed Rashi Sihag and Ruhani Yadav, reached the pre-quarterfinals.Top seed Padmaja, Renuka Bishnoi and 14 others have entered the third round in the U-13 girls singles.Earlier, Malviya Nagar MLA Kalicharan Saraf, Principal Income Tax director Investigation Awadhesh Kumar and former Chief Justice N K Jain and Pankaj Dixit inaugurated the competition. The JDBA secretary Manoj Dasot, president Anil Mehta, Patron Rajeev Nagori and organising secretary Atul Gupta were also present on the occasion.On this occasion, JDBA president Anil Mehta announced the launch of Late Shanti Mehta Scholarship in the name of his mother.Shanti Mehta was a national level badminton player and the principal of Jodhpur Physical Education College and the physical director of Rajasthan University.He said that four players in the U-15 and U-19 age groups, boys and girls, would be given a scholarship of Rs 21,000 per year.Organising secretary Atul Gupta said that the matches will start at 10 am on Wednesday. The fourth round matches in the U-11, U-13, U-15 and U-17 will be played in the boys and girls category.
