Rutuparna Panda From Odisha Wins Doubles At All India Sr Ranking Tourney

Bengaluru: Sourabh Verma, who won the 2016 Chinese Taipei Masters, registered a stunning comeback victory over top-seeded Pratul Joshi in All India Senior Ranking Tournament here on Sunday.

Sourabh went down 17-21 in the opening game but came back strong in the second game to win 21-14.

With the match tied 1-1, Sourabh brought all his experience into play and won the decider 21-18 to seal the match in 1 hour 12 minutes.

Second seeded Sai Uttejitha Rao recorded a scintillating upset victory over multiple BWF Challenge series winner Rituparna Das to emerge winner in the women’s singles competition.

Sai won the opening game 21-15 but was completely outclassed in the second game as she lost 7-21. But the Andhra lass held on to her nerves in the final game and outplayed Rituparna 21-15 to win the title.

The young pair of Rutuparna Panda and Aratha Sara Sunil pairing up for the first time picked up an easy 21-10, 21-12 victory in just 32 minutes over Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker to clinch the women’s doubles title.

The Orissa girl who is touted to be a talent to watch out for along with her partner defeated the seeded players on her way up to the final.

Earlier, Dhruv Kapila and Meghana Jakkampudi got the better of the pair of Arun George and Arathi Sara Sunil 19-21, 21-14, 21-18 in 50 minutes to win the mixed doubles competition while the duo of Arjun MR and Shlok Ramachandran outplayed Krishna Prasad G and Dhruv Kapila 21-14, 21-16 in 32 minutes to take home the men’s doubles title.

A total of five lakh rupees was doled out as prize money by Badminton Association of India for the winners. This tournament will serve as a qualification for the Asian Games.

Results

XD – Dhruv Kapila/Meghana Jakkampudibt Arun George/Aratha Sara Sunil – 19-21, 21-12, 21-9

WS – Sai Uttejitha Rao [2] bt Rituparna Das – 21-15, 7-21, 21-15

MS – Sourabh Verma bt Pratul Joshi [1] – 17-21, 21-14, 21-18

WD – Rutuparna Panda/Aratha Sara Sunil bt Simran Singhi/Ritika Thaker – 21-10, 21-12

MD – Arjun M.R/Shlok Ramachandran bt Krishna Prasad G/Dhruv Kapila – 21-14, 21-16