Hailing victory, Purva Barve brings home the Israel Junior Badminton title

Mumbai, March 19: Indian challenge in the prestigious All England Open may have come to an end in the semi-finals on Saturday but there was enough action for the lower ranked players on the international circuit and also at the All India level. Purva Barve successfully defended her girl’s singles crown in the Israel Junior (under-19) championship held in Rishon LeZion.

Fourth seed Barve, a trainee at the Nikhil Kanetkar Badminton Academy, won the long drawn battle against Russia’s Anastasiia Pustinskaia 21-19, 19-21, 21-13 in a match that lasted 66 minutes.

The title is her first in 2018 and third overall. Earlier she won the Israel Junior 2017, Italian Junior International 2017 apart from a bronze at the Russian Junior White Nights 2017.

Ranked No. 20 on BWF Junior Rankings charts, Purva, in her run to the title, got past three seeded players - Anastasiia (World No 18), Elena Andreu (Spain; 41) and Anastasiia Shapovalova (Russia) (Russia; 34).

NKBA Director and Head Coach Nikhil Kanetkar said," Purva is growing in experience and has been playing consistently. Her opponents were highly ranked.”

This comes out to be a terrific win for the young athlete and the country awaits to watch the bright star shine in the upcoming games as well.