Unnati Hooda pips Rakshitha Sree, Anupama Upadhyaya to top national junior badminton selection trials in Raipur

Teenage sensation Unnati Hooda emerged as the champion at the National Junior Badminton Selection Trials, which concluded at the I-Sports Badminton Arena in Raipur, Chhattisgarh on Monday, August 15.

The four-day national selection trials were conducted by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) from August 12 to August 15.

The Haryana-born shuttler, who represented the senior Indian team at the Uber Cup, did no harm to her growing reputation by remaining unbeaten in the trials.

Unnati first topped Group C by winning all three of her league matches. The promising shuttler from Rohtak trounced Sreshta Reddy K. 21-19, 21-17; Devika Sihag 21-9, 21-15; and Sriyanshi Valishetty 18-21, 21-19, 21-15.

In the play-offs to decide the top three positions, Unnati continued her winning run by edging past Rakshitha Sree and Anupama Upadhyaya in three games.

Rakshitha Sree finished second while Anupama had to be satisfied with the third spot. Tara Shah of Maharashtra was placed fourth.

Earlier, Haryana's Anupama topped Group A by getting the better of Jiya Rawat and Pune teenager Tara Shah in straight games.

Sankar Muthusamy, Bharat Raghav excel in U-19 boys singles

S. Sankar Muthusamy of and Bharat Raghav excelled in the U-19 boys singles category. Both Sankar Muthusamy of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka’s Bharat Raghav won two of the three league matches each to decide the top four positions.

Southpaw Sankar rallied back to down Ayush Shetty 18-21, 21-14, 21-3 and outclassed Tonmoy Bikash Boruah 21-16, 21-5 in the other outing.

However, Sankar had to face defeat at the hands of Bharat, who won 21-19, 21-12.

Bharat's only defeat came against Tonmoy Bikash Boruah.

Arsh Mohammad and Abhinav Thakur shine in U-19 boys doubles

Arsh Mohammad and Abhinav Thakur won the U-19 boys doubles. The pair of Nicholas Nathan Raj and Tushar Suveer finished second.

Isharani Baruah and Devika Sihag emerged as champions in the U-19 girls doubles, with Shreya Balaji and Srinidhi N being placed second. Samarveer and Radhika Sharma displayed their dominance in the U-19 mixed doubles.

Selected players to represent the Indian junior badminton team

Based on the performances at the trials, the most talented players will be selected for the TOPS development group and national camp. BAI will officially announce the junior Indian badminton team in a couple of days.

The selected players will be eligible to represent the Indian junior team in international competitions until December 2022, according to BAI general secretary Sanjay Mishra.

The national governing body of sports conducted selection trials for the seniors in April in New Delhi for various tournaments, including the Commonwealth Games.

The participating players were invited to the national junior badminton selection trials in Raipur on the basis of their performances in the three domestic tournaments.

The first All India Junior Rankings tournament was held in Bengaluru in April this year after a gap of nearly three years.

The second Under-19 tournament in Panchkula, Haryana and the third All India Junior Ranking tournament in Goa both took place in July.

The BAI shortlisted the players after analyzing the performance of all three tournaments. Their overall All India ranking after the completion of the three tournaments was considered to finalize the list.