BM Rahul Bharadwaj bagged his second consecutive international title on Saturday when he defeated compatriot Aman Farogh Sanjay 22-20 15-21 21-18 to clinch the Kenya International Future series title in Nairobi.
Both Rahul and Aman had to play through qualifying rounds and ended up playing eight matches within three days to stand on the podium.
Rahul, who had won the Uganda International title last week, had dropped just one game before the final but was stretched in the summit clash by Thane Academy’s Aman who was plaing his first international title clash.
Aman also had a similar run to the final and had upset top seed Georges Julien Paul of Mauritius and third seed Azmy Qowimuramadhoni of Azerbaijan in straight games in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively. But in the final, he can against an experienced Rahul, who is making a strong comeback after a long injury lay-off.
Rahul, 19, had been struggling with injuries for the past few years and his recent leg injury after the Dutch Junior international in March last year kept him away for about seven months.
“These have been very good two weeks for Rahul as he has won two back to back tournaments and that would give him enough ranking points to play the next level event,” said Sagar Chopda, coach at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy where Rahul trains.
“Since he has been struggling with injuries, we have to give me more time for recovery. He has now played three tournaments starting from the senior nationals and so the next tournament will be sometime in April end,” said Chopda.
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