It was double bonanza for India at the Turkey Junior International Series as Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka and Kartikey Gulshan Kumar both won the singles titles on Saturday.
Reddy and Kumar were both the top seeds in the tournament and did not drop a game all through. While Reddy beat 10th seed Nazlıcan Inci 21-13, 21-10 in the women’s singles final in 26 minutes, Kumar needed to give it his all before he got the better of second seed Arnaud Merkle of France 21-13, 12-21, 21-17 in the men’s final.
Reddy is also participating in the senior Turkey International Series next week, where she will be aiming to win her third straight title. The 15-year-old had also won the South Africa International title prior to the Turkey Junior. The junior world No 10 is now on the cusp of breaking into the top 100 in seniors.
India’s MR Arjun and Shlok Ramchandran, however, lost in the semi-finals of the Italian International Challenge to Netherlands’ Jelle Maas and Robin Tabeling 23-25, 12-21.
