Chennai: Samiya Imad Farooqui continued her meteoric rise in badminton, regally smashing the under-19 girls singles title in the Microplex Global and Yonex-Sunrise All-India Junior Ranking badminton Tournament here on Sunday. The new prodigy from the Gopichand Academy, comprehensively beat Delhi’s No. 16 seed Aashi Rawat 21-17, 21-12, after she upset the apple cart of her friend and top seed P Gayatri Gopichand in the semifinal. Manipur’s Maisnam Meiraba outplaying Aakash Yadav of Delhi before the latter retired hurt. The No. 2 seed Meiraba was leading 21-9, 12-7 when Aakash called it a day after his injury.
Manipur had the distinction of claiming double, as Dingku Sing Konthoujam paired up with Maharashtra’s Ritika Thaker to clinch the mixed doubles crown. Dingku, however, couldn’t cast the same magic in the boys doubles, along side Manjit Singh Khwairakpam lost to Ishaan Bhatnagar & Vishnuvardhan Goud P. Dingku and Ritika trounced Ishaan Bhatnagar & Tanisha Crasto 21-18, 21-12. On her part, Tanisha teamed up with Aditi Bhatt to take the girls doubles title. Samiya was in her elements, leapfrogging to a 13-10 and 16-12 lead; Aashi fought back to narrow the lead 15-17 but couldn’t sustain the fight and lost 17-21.
Results (Finals) Boys (U-19): M Meiraba (2, Mnp) bt A Yadav (5, Dli) 21-9 12-7 Retired; Doubles: I Bhatnagar (Chg) / V Goud P (2, Tel) bt M Singh Khwairakpam / DS Konthoujam (1, Mnp) 21-18, 21-13 Girls: S I Farooqui (5, Tel) bt A Rawat (16, Dli) 21-17, 21-12; Doubles: A Bhatt (Utr) / T Crasto (Goa, 2) bt S Singhi & R Thakar (6, Mah) 21-14, 21-16.Mixed doubles: DS Konthoujam (Mnp) / R Thacker (5, Mah) bt I Bhatnagar (Chg) & T Crasto (Goa) 21-18, 21-12
