Rajat and Ira clinched titles at North Zone Badminton Tournament

Rajat Rathore of Rajasthan and Ira Sharma of Haryana clinched the titles in the men’s singles and women’s singles categories respectively in the North Zone Inter-State Inter-Zonal Badminton Championships held at Panjab University Badminton Hall.

Third seeded Sharma had easy win against fourth seeded Ananya Goel of Delhi with 21-17, 15-21, 21-12, while Rathore defeated Abhishek Saini of Chandigarh with 21-12, 21-16.

Sharma claimed the opening game with the margin of 21-17 against Goel, who rebounded in the second game to win 21-15 making the game points equal. Sharma dominated the proceedings in the decider to clinch the title with 21-12. While, in men’s singles category, Rathore faced no difficulty to oust Saini in the finals. With 21-12, 21-16 he had easy win against the opponent.

In the U-19 singles finals, Abhishek Saini finished as an eventual winner defeating Lalit Dahiya of Haryana with a 21-19, 22-24, 21-17. In the decider match of U-19 boys category, Saini was witnessed winning crucial points and the youngster won the final game with 21-17, while, Ananya Goel lost in U-19 women’s singles as well, against Nikita of Haryana with 14-21, 12-21.

In the mixed doubles final, the pair of Balraj Kajala and Lalita Dahiya of Haryana ended the final match with Varun and Jagariti Nashier of Chandigarh with a 21-14, 21-18. The women’s doubles pair Barma Meena and Karma Meena claimed the title with a 21-14, 21-18 win over Kailash and Daman Rajkumar.