Kerala’s Kiran George and women’s top seed Aakarshi Kashyap of Chattisgarh registered straight games wins over their respective opponents to clinch the men’s and women’s singles titles at the All India senior ranking badminton tournament in Chennai on Wednesday.
The men’s singles final was a match-up against the aggressive 21-year-old and Subhankar Dey, who is known for his tenacity on and off the court. But if one was expecting a close encounter then Kiran doused those hopes pretty early when he opened up a 7-1 lead in the opening game and controlled the game with net exchanges and down-the-line smashes.
World No. 57 Dey, who had to come through the qualifying rounds due to his lower domestic ranking, did manage to close the gap but powerful smashes by Kiran were too good for Dey. Kiran defeated the experienced Subhankar Dey 21-17, 21-12 in 39 minutes
The women’s singles final was also a one-sided affair as Kashyap dominated qualifier Tanya, who had upset fifth seed Ashmita Chaliha in the semi-final, from the start.
The champion had engaged her opponent in long rallies during the initial exchanges to open up an 11-4 lead. Though Tanya looked more comfortable in the second half of that game, she was never really in contention and Kashyap needed just half an hour to bag the match 21-15, 21-12 in the women’s singles final.
National champions and women’s doubles top seeds Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat K got better of Uttar Pradesh’s Shruti Mishra and Shailja Shukla 21-14, 21-16 while the unseeded combination of Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh defeated S Sunjith and Gowrikrishna TR 21-18, 21-16 to clinch the mixed doubles title.
The men’s doubles saw two pairs who had to come through qualifying rounds. Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar R got the better of Ravikrishna P S and Sankarprasad Udaykumar 22-20, 19-21, 21-18.
Results:
Mixed doubles: Rohan Kapoor/Sanjana Santosh (DLI/TS) defeated S Sunjith and Gowrikrishna TR (RBI/KER) 21-18, 21-16
Men’s Singles: 5-Kiran George (KER) defeated Subhankar Dey (RLY) 21-17, 21-12
Men’s Doubles: Hariharan Amsakarunan/Ruban Kumar R (TN) defeated Ravikrishna P S/Sankarprasad Udaykumar (KER) 22-20 19-21, 21-18
Women’s Singles: 1-Aakarshi Kashyap (CG) defeated Tanya Hemanth (KTK) 21-15, 21-12
Women’s Doubles: 1-Shikha Gautam/Ashwini Bhat K (KTK) defeated Shruti Mishra/Shailja Shukla (UP) 21-14, 21-16
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