It was double delight for Tasnim Mir and Aditi Bhatt at the All-India Sub-Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament in Nagpur on Sunday as the two shuttlers won both the singles and doubles titles in their respective age categories.
The 13-year-old Mir from Gujarat swept both the Under-15 girls’ singles and doubles titles. The top seed beat sixth seeded Anupama Upadhyaya 21-19, 21-10 in the singles final, before pairing up with Meghana Reddy to edge Maharashtra’s Riya Habbu and Rhucha Sawant 22-20, 14-21, 21-15 in doubles.
Bhatt then completed her doubles as she first won the Under-17 girls’ doubles title with partner Tanisha Crasto, beating Treesa Jolly and Mehreen Riza 21-9, 21-13, before coming back from a game down to beat Taneesha Singh 16-21, 21-13, 21-13 in the U-17 singles final. Crasto won a double of her own as she then combined with Ishan Bhatnagar to win the U-17 mixed doubles title.
In the boys’ side, 14-year-old Pranav Rao was in contention for as many as three titles when the day began – U-15 singles, U-17 singles and U-15 doubles. However, the teenager from Telangana could win only one of them – the doubles title with partner Sai Vishnu Pullela. Pranav and Vishnu, the top seeds, got past the second seeds Shivam Mehta and Pranav Sharma 21-13, 19-21, 21-13.
Pranav Rao, the top seed in U-15 singles, then lost to second seed Sankar Muthusamy 18-21, 11-21, before losing to top seed Maisnam Meiraba in the semi-finals of U-17 13-21, 21-16, 13-21. Meiraba then came back from a game down to beat Sai Charan Koya 16-21, 21-17, 21-11 in the final. This was the second straight title bagged by Meiraba this month, after winning the junior ranking tournament in Cochin.
This tournament is one of the two selection events marked by the Badminton Association of India for the Asian Junior (U-15 and U-17) Championship in Myanmar in October. The second selection tournament begins in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
