Sixteen-year-old Malvika Bansod became one of the youngest winners of an All-India Senior Ranking Tournament after beating Vaishnavi Bhale, 21, in the final on Saturday.
The unseeded Bansod came through a 21-14, 21-17 winner against the seventh seed in the final of the tournament being played in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh.
Bhale is the fourth seeded player that Bansod defeated enroute to the title triumph. The 16-year-old had earlier beaten second seed Shreyanshi Pardeshi, fourth seed Riya Mookerjee, and ninth seed Shenan Christian.
Bansod had finished as the losing finalist in last month’s junior national championship in the Under-17 category and was defeated in the semi-finals in the Under-19 event. She had also reached the pre-quarterfinals of the senior Nationals in Nagpur in November.
Top seed Pratul Joshi triumphed in the men’s singles final after beating Kartik Jindal 21-15, 11-21, 21-18 in a match that lasted over an hour. It was double delight for Dhruv Kapila and Meghana Jakkampudi, who won the mixed doubles final together before clinching the men’s doubles and women’s doubles titles with their respective partners – Krishna Prasad G and Poorvisha Ram.
