SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, August 1: Title favourite Joy Chatterji, Sujal Rakshit, Shruti, Pihu Singh and Ishan Agrawal, displaying as per their reputation, won double crowns by bagging singles and doubles titles in the Dhanbad district badminton championship on Sunday.
Joy Chatterji and Shruti won singles and doubles titles in under-19 boys and girls events while Sujal and Pihu clinched singles and doubles titles in boys and girls under-17 events respectively. Ishan won in boys under-13 singles and under-15 doubles.
Notably, Joy defeated Sujal in the boys under-19 singles final 21-18,21-18. Later on, he paired with Sujal to defeat Udit Dayal and Tushar 21-10, 21-7 in the final to wear double crowns.
Earlier, Sujal had won the singles title in under- 17 boys, defeating Udit Dayal 21-12, 21-18 to win a double crown.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sanjiv Kumar was the chief guest on the occasion and he gave trophies to winners along with Dr Saritha Sinha, the principal of Delhi Public School.
In the girls’ under-19 final, Shruti beat Anamika Ghosh 21-10, 21-12. Before the final match, Anamika suffered a cramp in her right ankle but she entered court after treatment and fought hard against her rivals.
Meanwhile, Shruti won the girls’ under-19 doubles event pairing with Pihu. They defeated Yachna Heliwal and Shruti Singh 21-04, 21-08 in the final. Earlier Pihu had defeated Anamika in three sets of encounters in the girls’ under-17 singles final by 19-21, 21-19 and 27-25.
The match was the centre of the attraction which looked evenly till last. Both the players fought hard for each point. Anamika won the first game 21-19. But Pihu bounced back in the next game by winning 21-19.
In the third game which stretched around 30 minutes, Pihu maintained her nerve and won 27-25. Budding talent Ishan beat Satvik Kumar in the boys under-13 singles final 21-15, 21-18. Pairing with Tanay Goyal, he defeated Krishna Aditya Anivesh Prasad 23-21, 19-21, 21-1 in the boys’ under-15 doubles final.
Kavya Kiran won the girls under-13 title defeating Amrit Kaur 21-8,21-8 in the final. The pair of Udit Dayal and Samrat clinched the doubles title of under-17. They beat Pranay Kumar and Gourav Yadav 21-19, 21-19.
Sidharth Upadhyay won the boys under-11 singles title defeating Vaibhav Mishra 21-08, 21-1 in the final.
On occasion, SSP Sanjiv Kumar highly praised players’ performance and advised them to play with devotion. He also appreciated the step of the association in organizing the event.
District Badminton Association president BSP Roy, senior vice-president Rakesh Tiwari, secretary Samrat Choudhary, joint secretary Satish Kumar, and Rajesh Jha also addressed the closing function.
