Malvika Bansod stuns top seed Aakarshi in women’s singles final; Mithun stops qualifier Aditya for title

Malvika Bansod signed off the year in style by emerging women’s singles champion at the BAI Series Senior Badminton tournament in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The week-long tournament was organized by the Badminton Association of Telangana under the auspices of the Badminton Association of India. It took place at the Pullela Gopichand Academy, Hyderabad.

Second seed Malvika Bansod and eighth seed Mithun Manjunath registered convincing straight-game victories to clinch the women’s and men’s singles titles, respectively.

20-year-old Malvika shocked the top seed and last week’s senior ranking tournament winner, Aakarshi Kashyap. She won 21-15, 21-9 in the women’s singles final that lasted 42 minutes.

Barring the first few minutes, southpaw Malvika dominated her opponent throughout the match to complete a clinical victory. Aakarshi was trying to win her second successive title but an inspired Malvika foiled her bid to repeat Chennai’s triumph.

Second seed Malvika Bansod upset top seed Aakarshi Kashyap 21-15, 21-9 in the final Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh beat Dhruv Rawat and Shikha Gautam 21-14, 21-13. Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh beat Dhruv Rawat and Shikha Gautam 21-14, 21-13.

Third All India Senior title for Malvika Bansod

It was Malvika’s third All India Senior title. On her debut in 2017, Malvika defeated her fellow Nagpur player Vaishnavi Bhale. With the win, she became one of the youngest champions in India in the senior category. In 2018, Malvika bagged her second title in Kozhikode.

Malvika and Aakarshi played several matches against each other in the sub-junior and junior categories. However, it was three years since the two players met in the final.

In the second Khelo India Youth Games in Pune, Aakarshi had beaten Malvika in the final. At the inaugural Khelo India Games in New Delhi, Malvika emerged as champion.

Malvika has been training under the watchful eyes of junior national chief coach Sanjay Mishra at Raipur for the last three years. She gave the entire credit of her success to her coach.

“I am delighted to win the BAI series tournament at Hyderabad. I want to thank my coach Sanjay Mishra Sir and his entire team at ITM badminton academy for making this possible. All credit to Sanjay Sir. Many thanks to Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd, GoSports and my family for supporting me throughout this journey,” Malvika told Sportskeeda after her triumph.

Mithun halts giant-killing run of qualifier Aditya Joshi in men’s singles final

Mithun Manjunath stopped former world junior No. 1 Aditya Joshi’s run from qualifying round 21-15, 21-4 in the men’s singles summit clash.

Eighth seed Mithun faced some stiff competition in the first game but gained total control as the match progressed.

Back-to-back titles for Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh

Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh

All the finals were decided in straight games on Thursday. Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh were the only winners from the Chennai leg last week to finish on top of the podium once again.

Unseeded pair Rohan and Sanjana packed off Dhruv Rawat and Shikha Gautam 21-14, 21-13 in just 33 minutes to underline their overall development over the last year. The mixed doubles pair bagged second straight crowns to stamp their authority in style.

Scratch combination Simran Singhi and Khushi Gupta triumph in women’s doubles

Simran Singhi and Khushi Gupta with their coach

The women’s doubles title went to the make-shift combination of Simran Singhi and Khushi Gupta. The duo came together for the tournament after the former’s regular partner Ritika Thaker was ruled out due to injury.

Khushi and Simran defeated Telangana’s Vennala K and Shriyanshi Valishetty 21-16, 21-13 to clinch their first senior national title.

Krishna Prasad and Vishnuvardhan Goud reign supreme in men’s doubles

In the men’s doubles final, Kerala’s Ravikrishna PS and Sankarprasad Udayakumar made it to their second consecutive final after having to qualify for the main draw. But just as in Chennai, they failed to cross the final hurdle. The experienced combination of Krishna Prasad Gagara and Vishnuvardhan Goud P got the better of them. Krishna and Vishnuvardhan won 21-9, 21-12 in their last match of the day.

2012 London Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal was present at the prize distribution as the champions received an overall prize money of Rs 10 lakh. Chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand was also present during the concluding ceremony.

RESULTS (Finals)

Men’s singles

8-Mithun M bt Aditya Joshi 21-15, 21-4

Men’s doubles

3-Krishna Prasad G-Vishnuvardhan Goud P bt Ravikrishna PS-Sankarprasad Udayakumar 21-9, 21-12

Women’s singles

2-Malvika Bansod bt 1-Aakarshi Kashyap 21-15, 21-9

Women’s doubles

5-Khushi Gupta-Simran Singhi bt Vennala K-Shriyanshi Valishetty 21-16, 21-13

Mixed doubles

Rohan Kapoor-Sanjana Santosh bt Dhruv Rawat-Shikha Gautam 21-14, 21-13.