Anup, Shikha top

Second seed Anup Sridhar halted the fine run of talented Abhishek Yeligar to emerge champion in the Senior 5-star State-ranking badminton tournament here on Friday.

Tom’s Sridhar, who coasted into the title round after dispatching fourth seed Daniel Farid S of PPBA 21-19, 21-5 in the semifinals earlier in the day, proved too good for the unseeded Yeligar as well, carving out a routine 21-17, 21-13 win at the KBA courts.

However, it turned out to be a sweet day for the unseeded Shikha Gautam in the women’s singles competition. The PPBA shuttler staged a fine fightback, recovering from an opening game loss to stun third-seeded Jacqueline Rose Kunnath 13-21, 21-13, 21-19. Top seeds Adarsh Kumar and Venkatesh Prasad pocketed the men’s doubles title, defeating second-seeded pair of Guruprasad D and Vineeth Manuel 22-20, 21-12.

Results (all finals, prefix denotes seeding): Men’s singles: 2-Anup Sridhar (Tom’s) bt Abhishek Yeligar (Dharwad) 21-17, 21-13. (Semifinals): A Yeligar 3-Suraj RN (SAI) 21-17, 12-7 (retd); A Sridhar bt 4-Daniel Farid S (PPBA) 21-19, 21-5. Doubles: 1-Adarsh Kumar S (KBA)/ Venkatesh Prasad (AGS) bt 2-Guruprasad D/ and Vineeth Manuel (Canara Bank) (2), 22-20, 21-12.

Women’s singles: Shikha Gautam (PPBA) bt 3-Jacqueline Rose Kunnath (Tom’s) 13-21, 21-13, 21-19.