Thirteen-year-old Tasnim Mir of Gujarat bagged yet another double this year on the domestic circuit by winning the under-15 and under-17 singles titles at the All India Sub Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament in Raipur on Sunday.
Mir was the top seed in U-15 and had no trouble whatsoever against seventh seed Sakshi Phogat in the final, beating her 21-13, 21-8 in just half an hour. Later, in the final of the U-17 event, where she was seeded 15th, Mir beat 14th seed Kriti Bharadwaj 21-16, 21-9, this time taking only 28 minutes.
This was the third time this year that Mir has won two titles at a single event. She had clinched the U-15 singles and doubles titles at a sub-junior ranking tournament in Hyderabad in January, before doing the same in Nagpur in July.
The U-15 boys’ singles title in Raipur was won by top seed Sankar Muthusamy, who beat Ankit Mondal 21-16, 21-6. The U-17 boys’ singles title was also won by the top seed, Rohan Gurbani, who came from behind to beat second seed Pranav Rao Gandham 15-21, 21-19, 21-18.
Pranav Rao did get his hands on a gold medal eventually as he combined with Sai Vishnu Pullela to win the U-17 boys’ doubles title after defeating Ishaan Bhatnagar and Jaiditya Pratap Singh 21-23, 25-23, 21-15. Pranav and Sai Vishnu were unseeded in the event.
The girls’ doubles U-17 title was won by fourth seeds Sania Sikkandar and Varshini VS, while the U-15 gold went to sixth seeds Hiral Chouhan and Devika Sihag. The U-15 boys’ doubles title was won by fourth seeds Darshan Pujari and Abhinav Thakur.
Buy an annual Scroll Membership to support independent journalism and get special benefits.
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!