Gayatri Pullela wins U-19 title at Krishna Khaitan Badminton tournament

At just 14 years, Gayatri Pullela won her first U-19 title at 26th Smt. Krishna Khaitan Memorial All India Junior Ranking and Prize Money Badminton Tournament at Panjab University. Daughter of former champion PVV Lakshmi - who spectated all the matches at the tournament, outplayed top seeded Purva Barve in the finals match with a 23-21, 21-18 win in the finals.

All the matches were extended to the third game, except the opener, and the final match seemed like to be the three-game affair as well. After grabbing the lead by the break with 11-1, Gayatri failed to judge the shots of Barve at the centre court which made the score to be even by 18-18. Gayatri won the opener game by the better net plays and followed by the backhand wrist shots in the second game. Gayatri’s forehand cross drop and backhand flip shots made the 18-year-old Barve to struggle.

In the U-17 girls’ singles categories, Malvika Bansod took the Rachel Goenka Cup against the easy win of 21-7, 21-14 over Ritika Thaker.

While, it was the great day for the girls doubles shuttlers Ritika Thaker and Simran Singhi of Maharashtra as the pair won the girls’ U-17 and U-19 title in doubles. The duo ended the contest against Sahithi Badni and Vashini V of Telangana in the U-17 doubles’ finals with 21-14, 21-7, and U-19 title against Shruti Mishra and Samridhi with 21-14, 21-15 of Uttar Pradesh to win the Rachel Goenka Cup in the respective categories.

In the boy’s U-17 singles’ final, Aakash Yadav from Delhi clinched the cup with a 21-16, 12-21, 21-16 win over Iman Sonowal of Assam, and Aman Farogh stood the champion in the U-19 boys single’s category after he outclassed local shuttler Abhishek Saini with 21-14, 21-18.

The doubles pair of Vishnuvardhan Goud and Sri Krishna Sai Kumar Podile emerged winners in the U-19 boys’ doubles final as they registered a 18-21, 21-15, 21-13 win over Sanjai Srivatsa and Siddarth Elango. Goud and Podile lost the opening game 18-21 before staging a comeback to win the next two games.

The pair of Edwin Joy and Aravind Suresh claimed the U-17 boys’ doubles title with a 22-20, 21-17 win over Navaneeth Bokka and Vishnuvardhan Goud. Sai Krishna Sai Kumar Podile and Srishti Jupudi won the U-19 mixed doubles final with a 21-19, 21-15 win over Edwin joy and Nafeesah Sara.