The Masters Mystery

Eight Tournaments. Six Winners. Sixteen Suspects. Who Walks Out Alive?

They said experience would settle this category. They were wrong.

They said form would separate the men from the rest. They were wrong again.

Eight tournaments into the season, the 35+ Men’s Singles has turned into something far more unsettling — a locked room mystery where no favourite is safe, no alibi holds, and every round introduces a new twist.

This wasn’t a season. It was a slow-burn thriller.

Let’s meet the suspects.

 Tony Alex – The One Who Opened the Case

The first trophy of the season went to Tony Alex. Clean. Clinical. Convincing.The kind of opening that makes you believe the story has found its lead character.But Tony never stayed centre stage for long. He lingered instead — returning to the podium, appearing deep in draws, always close enough to matter. Never dominant. Never gone.Every mystery needs a man who knows more than he lets on. Tony played that role perfectly.

 Nikhil Ramesh – The Double Strike

Then came Nikhil Ramesh. Two titles. Another podium. Cold execution. No theatrics. For a moment, it felt like the mystery was solved. Surely this was the man who had cracked the code.And yet — just when control seemed possible, the grip loosened. A title here. An early exit there. Another challenger emerging from the shadows.In this category, even winning twice doesn’t buy you peace.

 Rahul Raghavan – The Constant Threat

If persistence could kill, Rahul Raghavan would have ended the season early.Two titles. One runner-up finish. Present from the opening chapter to the final pages. Rahul didn’t announce himself. He simply kept turning up — deep into tournaments, deep into trouble for everyone else. But consistency here is cruel. It keeps you alive just long enough to suffer again.

 Amiya Behera – The Long Con

Every great thriller has a mastermind who plays the long game. Amiya Behera didn’t rush. He endured.Three runner-up finishes. A semifinal heartbreak. Losses that would have broken lesser men. And then — at the very last tournament of the season — the title. Not loud. Not dramatic. Just inevitable.When the dust settled, Amiya stood somewhere unexpected: No. 1 in the rankings. He didn’t win the most trophies.He survived the most interrogations.

 Alpesh Goyal – The Defending champion   turned disruptor

One title. Multiple podiums. Relentless disruption.

As defending champion, Alpesh Goyal should have been the benchmark.Instead, he became the problem.He didn’t defend the crown — he destabilised the throne.Momentum dissolved in his presence.Narratives fractured the moment he arrived.In this mystery, chaos wasn’t accidental.It was intentional. The chaos was the plan.

Ritwik Venkatesh - The Sudden Turn

Ritwik struck once — hard. A title. Two more podium finishes. He didn’t linger. He didn’t dominate. He appeared, changed the course of the story, and vanished just long enough to remain dangerous. The kind of character you forget about — until it’s too late.

The Men Who Refused to Leave the Room

And then there were the ones who kept coming back, again and again, refusing to be written off.

Suhas Naidu — three podium finishes, forever knocking

Nikhil Jhamb — three podiums, always one rally away

Karthik Eeswaran — two podiums, quietly efficient

Nishant Dwivedi — one deep run, no easy exits

Santosh Hirapur — one podium, several disruptions

They didn’t steal the spotlight. They dimmed everyone else’s.

The Ones Who Changed the Ending Without Winning

Every good mystery has characters who never claim the prize — yet decide who doesn’t.

• Ravi Dewangan
• Sreeram Muthuraman
• Chinmay Nayak
• Sudhip Mohan
• Vinoth Chinnathambi

Quarterfinals became crime scenes. Seeds fell. Brackets collapsed.They didn’t need trophies.They left fingerprints.

The Evidence Is Clear.Eight tournaments.Six champions.No one with more than two titles.No pattern that survived scrutiny.Dominance never arrived.Control never settled.Certainty never lasted beyond a round.This category didn’t crown a ruler.

It exposed everyone.

And Now, the Final Act

Sixteen men remain.Every one of them capable.Every one of them compromised by history.This time, there are no second chances.No next tournament. No reset. Just one court.

One title.One name written at the end.

So tell us…

Who will it be?

Who holds their nerve when the lights dim and the crowd falls silent? Who survives when every rally feels like a confession?  Who will be the last man standing?

Badiwars 4.0 — The Finals

📍Kreeda, Sarjapur 🗓 February 22

 

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