Thakkar stuns Sridhar for title

Thakkar stuns Sridhar for title

MUMBAI, AUGUST 20: Unseeded Maharashtra State champion Himanshu Thakkar stunned third seed Anup Sridhar of Air-India after a 90-minute tussle to lift the junior under-19 boys' crown in the All-India Junior ranking badminton prize-money tournament at the Dadoji Konddeo, Thane, on Sunday.

Spurred on by the crowd, Thakkar of Thane saved three match-points with aplomb to down Sridhar 12-15, 15-12, 17-16 in a pulsating title clash.

The corresponding girls title was bagged by third seed Jwala Gutta of Andhra Pradesh who was leading her rival and top seed Parul Priyadarshini of the Railways 11-7, 3-0 when the latter conceded the final as she was feeling unwell.

Maharashtra shuttlers cornered the lion's share of the titles, winning nine out of 14 on offer on the last day of the event. Aditi Mutatkar led the charge for the host State with a title sweep of the sub-junior girls singles, midget girls singles and doubles.

Results (all finals):
BOYS - Junior: Himanshu Thakkar (Mah) bt Anup Sridhar (AI) 12-15 15-12 17-16. Sub-junior: Nishad Dravid (Mah) bt Sagar Chopra (Mah) 15-6 15-9. Sub-junior doubles: Dravid/Soham Gadgil (Mah) bt Chopra/Aditya Chitre (Mah) 15-2 15-6. Midget singles: Abhinav Kapoor (Mah) bt Ajay Jairam (Mah) 17-14 15-10. Midget doubles: Jairam/Kapoor bt Yash Wagh/Parin Chopra 15-11 15-8. Mini: Arun Nandaluri (AP) bt Nikit Karnatak (UP) 15-13 15-6.
GIRLS Junior: Jwala Gutta (AP) bt Parul Priyadarshini (Rlys) 11-7, 3-0 (conceded). Junior doubles: Jwala Gutta/Shruti Kurien (AP) bt Trupti Murgunde/Fathima Nazeer (AI) 13-15 15-11 15-5. Sub-junior: Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) bt Nikita Hurkudli (Mah) 11-5 11-6. Sub-junior doubles: Dhanya Nair/Nikita Hurkudli (Mah) bt Aparna Balan (Ker)/Aman Preet Sethi (Guj) 15-11 15-10. Midget: Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) bt Madhuri Vijay (Kar) 11-4 11-0. Midget doubles: Aditi Mutatkar/Shilpa Ghoshray (Mah) bt Gitanjali Bhosale/Neha Pandit (Mah) 15-5 15-10. Mini singles: Pradnya Gadre (Mah) bt Vinita Tripathi (Mah) 11-3 11-4.