India’s Tanya Hemanth stunned top seed and compatriot Tasnim Mir in straight games to win the women’s singles title at the 31st Iran Fajr International Challenge in Tehran on Sunday. Tasnim had a supremely dominant win over for Tanya registering a 7-21 11-21 win, in what was the shortest match of the day.
Tanya registers dominant win
This was also the first win for Tanya over Tasnim in a BWF tournament. Tasnim had got the better of Tanya in their previous two meetings.
At the medal ceremony, Tanya Hemanth was seen wearing a headscarf as she stood smiling with the gold.
According to a report in TOI, organisers had told players that headscarves were mandatory even though nothing of that sort was mentioned in the tournament prospectus for a podium dress code.
“The prospectus talked about the clothing rules in the Badminton World Federation’s competition regulations, which is mostly common in tournaments around the world. While we knew that headscarves were a must when women stepped out in Tehran, there was no particular mention about their use during the tournament," sources were quoted saying by TOI.
No men for women games
The report also stated that the tournament was closed to male spectators during women's games irrespective of the being the coach or the parents. A board with ‘no men allowed’ written was hung at the entrance.
Interestingly the tournament had mixed doubles matches for the first time.
“The women’s schedule was in the morning and the men’s in the afternoon. Only female spectators were allowed to watch the women’s matches. Also, match officials were all women in women’s matches. Male parents who accompanied their daughters to this meet didn’t get to watch a single match. It was only during mixed doubles that men and women players were seen together on the court," sources was quoted saying.
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