Bareilly, Feb 23 (IANS) Continuing his good show from the just-concluded Premier Badminton League, Ansal Yadav soared won the mens singles title while seventh seed Ira Sharma caused an upset to emerge the womens singles champion at the All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament 2020 here in Bareilly on Sunday.
The third-seeded Yadav showed his confidence in his strong 21-17, 21-19 win over the 15th seed Harsheel Dani in 38 minutes. The Varanasi shuttler was a part of the two-time champions Bengaluru Raptors’ squad and impressed in his PBL debut with a gutsy display against Pune 7 Aces’ World No. 74 Kazumasa Sakai.
In women’s singles, Sharma’s win a testimony of her stamina and fighting spirit. Second seed Vaidehi Choudhari came back after a slow start but that could not deter the former junior national champion as she finished off the 21-18, 15-21, 21-11 win in 57 minutes.
The women’s doubles category also witnessed an upset as the unseeded pair of Aparna Balan and Arathi Sara Sunil stunned the seventh seeds Sahithi Bandi and Tanisha Crasto 21-13, 21-18. The Goa girl, Crasto, however, tasted glory earlier in mixed doubles when she partnered Chattisgarh’s Ishaan Bhatnagar to the mixed doubles title. The eighth seeds put up a clinical performance in their 21-17, 21-16 win against the fifth seeds Sanjai Srivatsa and Anoushka Parikh.
In men’s doubles, second seeds Utkarsh Arora and Saurabh Sharma took the title in a brilliant 21-18, 21-18 win against third seeds and veterans Rupesh Kumar KT and V. Diju.
–IANS
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