Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu inspire: 300 shuttlers take part in dist badminton tourney

In 1983, Prakash Padukone was THE badminton hero. In 2001, Pullela Gopichand brought laurels by winning the coveted All England Open Badminton Championship. In 2010, Badminton again came into the limelight as Saina Nehwal bagged the coveted gold in the Commonwealth Games. And since then, year by year, India has been producing one stellar shuttler after another.

After Rio silver, future looks bright as PV Sindhu evolves towards perfection

And now, PV Sindhu has taken the mantle and is turning into another role model for the young badminton players of the city. One can see the rising craze for badminton in Ludhiana with as many as 300 shuttlers below 15 years of age participating in the five-day Ludhiana District Sub Junior Badminton Tournament being played at Shastri Hall, Guru Nanak Stadium.

The tournament kicked off on August 16 will end on Saturday. Till the filing of the report the results were as follows:

Under-11 girls (Singles) were Sneha Bhandari beat Anupama 21-12, 21-7; Lavneet Kaur beat Ramandeep 21-10, 18-21, 21-17; Vani beat Vasvi Singal 21-11, 21-12; Amulya beat Ayushi 21-19, 17-21, 29-27; Vanni beat Anvi Kohli 11-21, 21-13, 21-19; Sanaaz beat Malisha 21-12, 21-10; Manya Chotra got Walkover from Prableen Kaur and Saanvi beat Ayana 21-7, 21-9.

Under-15 Boys (Doubles), Sunidhiya Nautial and Sehaj beat Swastik and Rajat 21-10, 21-14; Nitish and Vipul beat Hari Singh and Harshdeep Singh 21-16, 21-13; Gursanjam and Varun beat Jasleen Saini and Dhruv 21-10, 21-11; Akshit and Ayush beat Ankit and Tanishq 21-15, 21-9; Rajveer Khurana and Chirag Sharma beat Samay and Sarthak 21-13, 21-6; Aryan Bhardwaj and Ayush Grover beat Krish and Pranav Singla 21-14, 21-14; Pranshu Madan and Parth Bansaal got walkover.

Under -13 Girls (Singles) Arunima Pal beat Ishmeet 21-7, 21-2; Sneha Bhandari beat Soumya Garg 21-6, 21-7; Samridhi Bhandari beat Srishti Angra 21-9, 21-9; Sant Kaur beat Maitri 21-6, 21-6; Surinder Kaur beat Aaiya Grover 21-11, 21-5; Raina Mehra beat Jasreen Kaur 21-8, 21-4; Sumedha Sharma beat Panishta Juneja 17-21, 21-12, 21-15 and Arpita Poonia beat Drishti 21-8, 21-8.

Under-13 Boys (Doubles) Lakshay and Arnam beat Sahib and Rahul 21-2, 21-4; Ishaan Takkar and Mallon Malhotra beat Pranav and Akansh 21-12, 21-10; Arnav and Yogeshwar beat Krish and Bhavya 21-11, 21-18; Ujjwal Bhatia and Akshit Gupta beat Arshdeep and Rachit Arora 21-6, 13-21, 21-14; Akshat and Pranav Bhandari beat Yuvraj and Ishaan 21-11, 21-7; Karnveer Singh and Harsh beat Gurnoor and Virinderjit Singh 21-14, 21-15; Pranav and Vaibhav got walkover from Swastik and Rajjat.

Under-15 Girls (Singles) Simranjeet Kaur beat Saumya Behal 21-6, 21-0; Aurnima Pal beat Shreya Bhatia 21-4, 21-11; Promila beat Surinder Kaur 21-9, 21-7; Arpita Poonia beat Somya Garg 21-7, 21-6; Simar Saluja beat Suvidhi Jain 21-19, 21-11; Navleen Kaur beat Kashish Tangri 21-18, 21-14; Sant Kaur beat Dilkhush 21-8, 21-14 and Prerna Dawer beat Sanya Dhir 21-13, 21-4.

In Quarter Final of Under- 11 Boys (Singles) Granth Johri beat Vavan Narang 21-5, 21-19; Ashmit Dhir beat Vibhav Sharma 21-18, 21-18; Jasraj Singh beat Rayan Kapoor 21-7, 21-17 and Harjot Singh Saini beat Aryan Jain 22-20, 21-17.