Ludhiana, December 9
Local lads, Gurbaksh Singh of Speed Fund Academy, Ludhiana, and a class VII student of Green Land Senior Secondary School, and Raj Kumar, a student of class VIth in Alpine International School, made sorts of history by winning doubles title (u-13 years) in the 17th Mini and Sub-Junior National Badminton Championship held from December 1 to 7 at Patna.
Trainees of Mr Gianinder Singh, senior badminton coach with the Punjab Sports Department, who accompanied the squad informed that these boys have brought laurels to the state Punjab had won this title about 12 years back when Harish Chander (elder brother of Raj Kumar), with Sachin Ratti of Jalandhar clinched the title.
An elated Mr Gianinder Singh said these shuttlers are very talented and have great potential to bring more laurels. In the last edition of this championship held at Ooty (Tamil Nadu), this pair had made an early exit (first round). He further said that another player from Ludhiana, Arun Dhand, had brought glory to the nation when he became World Master’s Doubles Badminton Champion (above 40) in the tournament held at Melbourne, Australia last month.
On their way to the title winning performance, Gurbaksh and Raj Kumar overcame spirited challenge from their rivals. In the second round encounter, they drubbed Uttaranchal’s pair of Ashu Pande and S Naniwal 15-6, 15-2. The pair faced a little resistence in the pre-quarterfinal match as they emerged winners 15-3, 15-6 against Rahul Jayram and Arjun Sriram of Kerala.
In the qurterfinal, Gurbaksh and Raj Kumar got the better of Chandigarh’s lads, Oscar Bansal and Gaurav Verma, 15-5, 9-15 and 15-6.
In the summit clash, Gurbaksh and Raj Kumar scored an easy victory over Karnataka’s M.D. Anup Kiran and Aditya Prakash whom they outplayed 15-4, 15-10 to annex the title.