Fourth seed Shreyanshi Pardeshi and fifth seed Rahul Yadav C won the women’s singles and men’s singles titles respectively at the All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament in Pune on Sunday.
Pardeshi, whose all-India ranking is fifth, defeated Riya Mookerjee, the number five seed, 21-19, 21-10 in the women’s singles final. Yadav, ranked ninth in India, did not have such a straightforward final as he was taken to three games by Alap Mishra. Yadav won the match 21-14, 16-21, 21-15 after 48 minutes.
In the first final of the day – mixed doubles – Sanyam Shukla and Maneesha K beat Gouse Shaik and Pooja D 22-20, 21-18. Sanyam was also in the men’s doubles final with partner Arun George but had to pull out after just 14 minutes because of a knee injury.
Sanyam had played four matches on Saturday – the quarter-finals and semi-finals of mixed and men’s doubles. While the quarter-final matches were more or less straightforward affairs, Sanyam contested two gruelling semi-finals, which eventually did him in.
In the mixed doubles semis, Sanyam and Maneesha needed an hour and 10 minutes to get past the new pairing of Rohan Kapoor and Sanyogita Ghorpade 21-14, 16-21, 21-17. Then, top seeds Sanyam and Arun were stretched in the opening game of their men’s doubles semi by Anil Kumar Raju and Venket Gaurav Prasad before eventually winning it 27-25, 21-12.
“My knee was not okay after yesterday’s matches,” Sanyam told Scroll.in. “It is the same leg I had an ACL injury on two years ago. I played mixed today but in the [men’s] doubles final I was not able to move only after a certain point.”
Sanyam reckons the injury is not that serious, though. “I have to go back [to Hyderabad] and show it to the physiotherapist and then we will see how it is,” the 22-year-old said. The men’s doubles title was therefore awarded to Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran, who did not lose a game in the entire tournament.
Pooja D, who lost in the mixed doubles final, made up for it by winning the women’s doubles title with partner Ningshi Block Hazarika, beating Manasi Gadgil and Mrunmayi Saoji 21-14, 21-14.
