SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Dec 12: Saraah Sharma of Jamshedpur has set a record for winning triple titles in the Jharkhand State U-19 Badminton Championship cum selection trial being played at Dumka Indoor Stadium. On the other hand, Niraj Kesri of Ranchi wore double crowns in the tournament.
Saraah bagged the girls’ singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles while in the boys’ event, Niraj Kesri won the singles and mixed doubles title by pairing with Saraah Sharma.
The pair of Emmanuel Kujur of West Singhbhum and Priyanshu Tirki of Gumla bagged the boys’ doubles title defeating the pair of Niraj Kesri and Harshit Raj by 12-21, 21-15 and 21-13.
Badal Patralekh, the agriculture minister of Jharkhand, was the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the championship. He also gave away the trophies to the winners.
In the boys’ singles final, Niraj Kesri did not receive any resistance from Harshit Raj and won 21-16, 21-09. However, Saraah Sharma grabbed everyone’s attention as she swept all titles. She won the singles title defeating Vaibhavi Maan of Dhanbad in finals by 20-22, 25-23 and 21-17.
Saraah is a student of P Gopichand Badminton Academy, Hyderabad and won the under-19 girls’ title of the state championship held at Hazaribag in 2021. She had defeated Anisha Mishra of Jamshedpur in the finals.
In the girl’s doubles final, Saraah paired with Aadhya Singh of Saraikela and defeated the pair of Anisha Mishra and Yogita Bora. In the mixed doubles final, Saraah and Niraj Kesri beat the pair of Emmanuel Kujur and Yogita Bora pair.
Moreover, it is said that Saraah is the first player of Jharkhand who has won triple titles in the singles championship of the state. Sachin Rana, the national badminton coach of Jharkhand highly appreciated the performance of Saraah.
Dumka District Badminton Association felicitated the national and state grade badminton umpires Avinash Kumar Tiwari (Ranchi) Abhishek Singh (Dhanbad) Barun Kumar (Saraikela) Madhusudan Murmu (Dumka) and Amit Charan Anthony (Jamshedpur).
Kamaljit Kaur, the state-grade woman badminton umpire, Jamshedpur was the centre of attraction. This was the first time that a woman umpire had conducted a match in Dumka. “Despite umpiring for the first time, Kamaljit Kaur officiated the matches with confidence and as per rules,” said state badminton umpire convener Avinash Kumar Tiwari.
