Darshan Pujari in line to bag double crown at All India Junior Ranking Badminton tournament

Darshan Pujari is in line to bag a double crown at the Yonex-Sunrise Union Bank of India All-India Junior Ranking Badminton tournament in Bengaluru.

The six-day long tournament is being organized by Prakash Padukone Sports Management at the Padukone Dravid Center for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru.

Pujari stormed into the Under-19 boys singles as well as U-19 boys doubles along with Abhinav Thakur.

Pujari overcame a stiff challenge from the unseeded Lakshay Sharma with a hard-fought 26-24, 23-21 victory in the U-19 boys singles semi-finals.

Fifth seed Pujari took an hour and three minutes to get the better of 15-year-old Sharma.

Earlier in the quarter-finals, the Maharashtra teenager toppled top seed Pranav Rao Gandham 14-21, 21-17, 21-16 in an exciting 57-minute battle.

Telangana southpaw Pranav Rao Gandham failed to take advantage of a solid start against the Pune youngster.

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Darshan Pujari to face Ayush Shetty in the U-19 boys singles final

Darshan Pujari, a trainee at Hyderabad-based SAI-Gopichand Academy, will take on tenth seed Ayush Shetty in the final on Friday.

Shetty caused a major upset when he knocked out second seed Bharat Raghav 21-12, 20-22, 21-16 in the other semis. He needed 46 minutes to shock Raghav.

Earlier in the morning, Shetty prevailed over Abhishek Santhosh Kumar 21-10, 21-13 in the quarters.

Meanwhile, the fast-rising teenage shuttler Unnati Hooda has reached the Under-19 girls singles final along with Rakshitha Sree S.

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Results

(Quarter-finals)

U-19 boys singles

2-Bharat Raghav bt 7-Sanskar Saraswat 21-14, 21-13 (30 minutes)

10-Ayush Shetty bt Abhishek Santhosh Kumar 21-10, 21-13 (28 minutes)

5-Darshan Pujari bt 1-Pranav Rao Gandham 14-21, 21-17, 21-16 (57 minutes)

Lakshay Sharma bt Sathwik Reddy K 21-17, 21-18 (48 minutes)

U-19 girls singles

Unnati Hooda bt Mounitha AS 21-19, 21-8 (25 minutes)

Rakshitha Sree S bt 3-Sakshi Phogat 21-17, 21-13 (40 minutes)

10-Devika Sihag bt 4-Meghana Reddy M 21-7, 21-10 (25 minutes)

Neysa Cariappa A bt Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye 21-7, 21-10 (32 minutes)

U-19 boys doubles

Daksh Gautam-Ujjwal bt 4-Saikat Banerjee-Nikhil Chetry 21-14, 21-16 (35 minutes)

Rohan Kumar Anandas Raj Kumar-Numair Shaik bt Lokesh Parasa-Rushendra Thirupathi 22-20, 18-21, 21-18 (39 minutes)

Nicholas Nathan Raj-Tushar Suveer bt Dhiren Ayyappan-Dev Aiyyapaan 21-17, 20-22, 22-20 (54 minutes)

3-Darshan Pujari-Abhinav Thakur bt Arya Thakore-Dhruv Thakore 21-17, 17-21, 24-22 (50 minutes)

U-19 girls doubles

Vennala K-Shriyanshi Valishetty bt Vaishnavi Khadkekar-Sri Sai Sravya Lakkamraju 21-15, 21-10 (26 minutes)

1-Gnanadha Karthikeyan-Sania Sikkandar bt Kanishka G-Dhanyaa N 21-16, 21-10 (25 minutes)

6-Devika Sihag-Taneesha Singh bt Reeva Evangelin M-Pravandhika R 22-20, 21-15 (31 minutes)

Navya Kanderi-Rakshitha Sree S bt 3-Jahnavi Nammi-Anamika Singh 21-13, 21-12 (30 minutes)

U-19 mixed doubles

Mayank Rana-Nardhana VR bt Aaryan Sapiah-Anmol Kharb 21-16, 21-13 (35 minutes)

R Arulmurugan-N Srinidhi bt Nathan Shieh-Shreya Balaji 21-19, 21-18 (32 minutes)

Samarveer-Radhika Sharma bt 3-Shashank Chhetri-Aishwarya Mehta 23-21, 15-21, 26-24 (56 minutes)

2-Anshul Budhwar-Awantika Pandey bt Dhruv Thakore-Nikkita Joseph 21-14, 24-22 (31 minutes)

(Semi-finals)

U-19 boys singles

10-Ayush Shetty bt 2-Bharat Raghav 21-12, 20-22, 21-16 (46 minutes)

5-Darshan Pujari bt Lakshay Sharma 26-24, 23-21 (63 minutes)

U-19 girls singles

Unnati Hooda bt 10-Devika Sihag 21-23, 21-17, 21-19 (70 minutes)

Rakshitha Sree S. bt Neysa Cariappa A 21-13, 16-21, 21-19 (75 minutes)

U-19 boys doubles

Nicholas Nathan Raj-Tushar Suveer bt Daksh Gautam-Ujjwal 16-21, 21-19, 21-16 (50 minutes)

3-Darshan Pujari-Abhinav Thakur bt Rohan Kumar Anandas Raj Kumar-Numair Shaik 21-14, 21-16 (26 minutes)

U-19 girls doubles

Vennala K-Shriyanshi Valishetty bt 6-Devika Sihag-Taneesha Singh 21-19, 21-15 (36 minutes)

1-Gnanadha Karthikeyan-Sania Sikkandar bt Navya Kanderi-Rakshitha Sree S. 21-13, 13-21, 21-13 (42 minutes)

U-19 mixed doubles

Mayank Rana-Nardhana VR bt R Arulmurugan-N Srinidhi 21-15, 21-13 (73 minutes)

Samarveer-Radhika Sharma bt 2-Anshul Budhwar-Awantika Pandey 21-19, 18-21, 21-12 (40 minutes).