Teenagers Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye and Harshit Mahimkar hogged the limelight winning triple crowns each in the Sportzfirst-CCI & GMBA Yonex Sunrise District Badminton Championship 2024, played at the CCI Badminton courts on Saturday.
The 16-year-old Naishaa, who had bagged five titles in the last edition, won the girls’ under-17, girls’ under-19 and women’s singles titles, while Harshit also won the boys’ under-17 and boys’ under-19 singles final and the boys’ under-17 doubles title.
Meanwhile, Ajay Meena playing in this competition for the first time clinched the men’s singles title. The 26-year-old Meena, a former Rajasthan shuttler defeated young Mahimkar in the straight games at 21-14, 21-12.
The top-seeded Naishaa defeated arch-rival and second seed Riya Vinherkar 21-14, 21-14 in the girls’ under-19 final. Naishaa again the number one seed in the under-17 category did not break into a sweat to win the final as her rival Riya sprained her ankle during the warm-up and conceded the match. Later, the energetic Naishaa also seeded one waltzed past second seed Shivani Herlekar posting a 21-6, 21-3 victory in the women’s singles final.
In the boys’ under-17 singles final, the number one seed Harshit defeated second seed Anay Pingulkar 21-10, 21-10. Harshit, the top seed in the under-19 competition as well, sidelined Akshat Raisurana 21-14, 21-14 to win the boys under-19 title. He along with Sahil Gurbuxani had won the boys' under-19 doubles crown on Thursday.
Results (all finals) - Girls U-17 singles: 1-Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye bt 2-Riya Vinherkar retired hurt.
Girls U-19 singles: Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye bt 2-Riya Vinherkar 21-14, 21-14.
Boys U-17 singles: 1-Harshit Mahimkar bt 2-Anay Pingulkar 21-10, 21-10.
Boys U-19 singles: Harshit Mahimkar bt Akshat Raisurana 21-14, 21-14.
Women singles: 1-Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye bt 2-Shivani Herlekar 21-6, 21-3.
Men singles: Ajay Meena bt Harshit Mahimkar 21-14, 21-12.
