Our Correspondent
Imphal, July 28 (EMN): Assam’s Isharani Baruah bagged the U-17 girls’ title at the Yonex Sunrise All India Sub-Junior (U-15 and U-17) Ranking Badminton Tournament 2019 which concluded on July 27. Pranav Rao Gandham of Telangana won the U-17 boys’ title.
With her win over rival Kriti Bharadwaj of Karnataka 21-15, 8-21, 21-15, Isharani Baruah is expected to get a berth in the Indian squad in the upcoming Asian Badminton champion in Indonesia.
The week-long tournament which started on July 21 was hosted by the Manipur Badminton Association (MBA) at the Khuman Lampak Indoor Hall under the aegis of Badminton Association of India.
In their final matches, Baruah beat her rival Kriti Bharadwaj of Karnataka 21-15, 8-21, 21-15 for the U-17 girls’ title. Similarly Pranav Rao defeated Shubam Patel of Rajasthan in straight set (21-12, 21-17).
Assam’s Ayan Rashid who paired with Tasnim Mir (Gujarat) managed to win the U-17 mixed doubles title beating Delhi's pair of Advit Bhargava and Navdha Manglam in the final while Sathwick Reddy K (Telangana) and Swetaparna Panda (Odisha) beat Tamil Nadu pair Nathan Shieh and Nardhana VR to win the U-15 mixed doubles title.
In the U-15 boys’ singles, Raghav from Haryana overtook Lakshay Sharma of Punjab while Tara Shah of Maharashtra won the U-15 girls’ title after beating Tasnim Mir of Gujarat.
Lokesh Reddy (Telangana) and Ankit Mondal (West Bengal) were crowned U-15 boys’ doubles champions after their win against the pair of Tonmoy Bikash Boruah (Assam) and Lakshay Sharma (Punjab).
Tamil Nadu pair Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar R clinched the U-17 boys’ doubles title against Ayush Patnayak (Odisha) and Suhas V (Karnataka) in straight set.
The U-15 girls’ doubles title was won by Gnanadha Karthikeyan and Sania Sikkandar (Tamil Nadu) who edged Andrea Sarah Kurien and Pavithra’s (Kerala) combination in the final.
On the other hand Karnataka pair, Janani Ananthakumar and Tanya Hemanth fetched the U-17 girls’ doubles title with a 2-1 set win against Gnanadha Karthikeyan and Sania.
It may be mentioned that altogether 1674 players participated in the qualifying round which was held from July 21-23 while the main round began from July 24. The players who were selected from the Imphal tournament and upcoming Guwahati tourney from July 29 to August 4 will be named to represent India in Asian championship in Indonesia.
