Ans, Divnoor win U-13 badminton titles

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 4
Ans Kumar Khare and Divnoor Kaur won the boys’ and girls’ U-13 titles, respectively, on the concluding day of the Chandigarh State Badminton Championships at the Centre of Excellence for Badminton, Sector 38 Sports Complex.
In the boys’ U-13 final, Ans outplayed 5th seed Abhijay Anand 21-14 21-13, while Divnoor toppled top seed Avani Rai 21-18 21-15 in the girls’ final.
Top seed Gurtaaj Singh won the boys’ U-15 final after facing a tough challenge from Ayaan Marwaha 22-20 21-18 and Ridhima Saini won the girls’ title by defeating Jaya Verma 21-9 21-6. Rana Rudhra Pratap Singh recorded a stunning 17-21 21-13 21-8 comeback win over 3rd seed Suryansh Raghav to win the boys’ U-17 final.
Ridhima won her second gold of the tournament by defeating Vanshika 21-15 21-5 in the girls’ final.
The team of Abhijay and Ans won the boys’ U-13 doubles final by logging a 21-15 21-10 win over Girivar and Mudit Bhansali. Divnoor and Hargun Kaur won the girls’ doubles final as they defeated Pawani Verma and Sirat Baidwan 21-15 22-20.
Anika and Guneet won the girls’ U-15 doubles title by defeating Jaya Verma and Kabit Anhad Kaur Dhiraj 21-19 21-16, whereas the pair of Aarush and Tusya faced a tough resistance before defeating Ayaan Marwaha and Gurtaaj 21-15 18-21 21-15 in the boys’ doubles final.
Anu Priya and Ridhima defeated Tashvi Goel and Vanshika 21-13 14-21 21-13 in the girls’ doubles U-17 final. After a neck-and-neck fight, Gurtaaj and Kabit defeated Ayaan and Jaya 21-19 15-21 21-16 to win the mixed doubles U-15 final.
The team of Rana Rudhra Pratap Singh and Tanishka Nandal won the mixed doubles U-17 final by defeating Suryansh Raghav and Vanshika 21-18 21-17. Aditya Kohli and Suryansh won the boys’ doubles U-17 final by easily overpowering Rana Rudhra Pratap Singh and Vaibhav Giri 21-15 21-16.
As many as 300 players participated in the championship, said Surinder Mahajan, honorary general secretary, Chandigarh Badminton Association. He added, “The Chandigarh State teams of these categories will be selected for the forthcoming nationals on the basis of performance of the players in these championships. The Sector 38 complex trainees dominated in most of the finals.” Vaishali Aggarwal, Director, Scott-Edil Pharmacia Ltd, awarded the winners.

Ridhima, Rana best players

Ridhima Saini (TSBA Academy) from SGGS School, Sector 35, and Rana Rudra Pratap (Sector 38 Sports Complex) from St John’s School, Sector 26, were declared best players of the tournament. Master players of Chandigarh, namely Ashish Sharma, Varun Sharma, Bhavna Sharma, Sargun Arora and Geeta Mahajan, who excelled in various international tournaments, were also honoured at the function.