Brilliant Performance! Aditi, Tanisha win two titles at World Juniors selection tourney

New Delhi, August 19: India’s emerging shuttlers Tanisha Crasto and Aditi Bhatt capped a memorable campaign with twin titles at the All India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament in Panchkula on Sunday. This was the first of the two selection tournaments for the BWF World Junior Championships to be held in Kazan, Russia, from October 7-13.

 

Sixth seed Aditi Bhatt, in girls’ singles, showed steely nerves and resilience in her 22-20, 13-21, 22-20 win over top seed Unnati Bisht. The match lasted an hour and 18 minutes. This was the second consecutive three-game match that Bhatt played in Panchkula following her 21-15, 14-21, 21-16 win over seventh seed Aashi Rawat in the semi-finals.

Bhatt made it a double delight for herself when she teamed up with Tanisha Crasto to take the girls’ doubles title as well. The second seeds stormed back from a slow start to eke out a 17-21, 21-19, 21-17 win over seventh seeds Khushi Gupta and Drithi Yatheesh.

Tanisha Crasto found success in the mixed doubles category as well, where she partnered with Ishaan Bhatnagar to beat Dhruv Rawat and Trisha Hegde 20-22, 21-16, 21-13.

 

In boys’ doubles, the title went to fifth seeds Iman Sonowal and Yash Raikwar in a surprising result. The boys put up a brilliant performance to upset the top seeds Manjit Singh Khwairakpam and Dingku Singh Konthoujam 21-12, 21-15.

Junior world No 15 Meiraba, the top seed, was unstoppable in his 21-12, 21-11 demolition of second seed Sathish Kumar K in the boys’ singles final. The in-form Manipuri shuttler, who won the White Night Junior last month, was challenged only once in six matches this week, when he dropped a game to eighth seed Sarath D in the quarter-finals.