Gayatri Gopichand continued her fine form in the domestic circuit by winning the All India Junior Ranking Tournament in Cochin.
Gayatri, 15, came back from a game down to beat the 18-year-old Ashwini Bhat 11-21, 21-16, 21-14 in the final on Sunday. Gayatri has had a great month on the domestic circuit, reaching the quarter-finals and semi-finals of her first two national senior ranking tournaments in June. Her performance earned her a spot in India’s squad for the Asian Games in August.
The boys’ singles final was won by the 15-year-old Maisnam Meiraba, who beat Siddhanth Gupta easily 21-10, 21-7. However, this tournament did not feature the cream of India’s junior circuit, including the top-ranked Aakarshi Kashyap and Aman Farogh Sanjay, as they are in the national camp in Bengaluru for the Badminton Asia Junior Championships starting later this month.
In boys’ doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Krishna Prasad Garaga added another title to their impressive record by beating top seeds Navneeth Bokka and Sai Pavan Karri 21-15, 21-11 in the final. Dhruv and Krishna had won the senior ranking title in Hyderabad and had finished runners up in Bengaluru last month. Unfortunately, they aren’t in the Asian junior championship squad because they failed to reach the final of the selection tournament in Tirupur, losing in the semis.
The girls’ doubles title in Cochin was won by third seeds Nila V and Varshini VS, who beat the top seeds Shruti Mishra and Samriddhi Singh 21-10, 14-21, 21-14 in the final. Akshan Shetty and Rashi Lambe won the mixed doubles title, beating Sai Pavan Karri and Riya Arolkar 21-14, 21-15.
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