Mithun grabs second consecutive and Kuhoo wins mixed doubles at Senior Ranking tourney

The 5-day long tournament witnessed 1,500 players at Dehradun, the city which is hosting the tournament for the second time.

Uttarakhand Badminton president Ashok Kumar said, “This tournament is very important for all players who are looking to improve their national ranking as the points gained during this gets accumulated which form the basis for rankings. Shuttlers from Uttarakhand have also done quite well though Lakshya Sen could not participate in the tourney due to injury.”

While in the singles event, Mithun Manjunath and Anura Prabhudesai won the respective men’s and women’s singles titles; marking his second consecutive Senior Rankings title. Previously, the 19-year-old Manjunath clinched the title in the Senior Ranking tournament which concluded on February 4.

“The competition after the pre-quarter matches gets quite tough and interestingly in this tournament, the younger players actually performed better than the senior ones. The sport is changing rapidly in terms of players,” he added.

Chief secretary Utpal Kumar who was the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the tourney, congratulating the winners. He said, “All the players have done their best and it is a moment of pride that we had the opportunity to host this tourney for the second time. Seeing the potential of the shuttlers from Uttarakhand, I am confident that they will perform very well in the Olympics 2020.

Anura beat 13th seed Kanika Kanwal 21-10, 21-17 in a match that lasted a little over half an hour. Last year, she became the first Goan to clinch India’s No 1 ranking in women’s singles and doubles. The 19-year-old is ranked 119th in the world.

Meanwhile, fifth seeds Aparna Balan and Sruthi KP beat fourth seeds Kuhoo Garg and Ningshi Block Hazarika 21-18, 21-15 in 46 minutes to win the women’s doubles title.