Aakarshi upsets top seed Shikha

 On a day of upsets, top seeds in girls under-17 and under-19 categories, Prashi Joshi and Shikha Gautam, were ousted in the 15th All-India junior ranking badminton tournament at the Karnataka Badminton Association here on Saturday.

Karnataka’s Shikha, who started favourite in her tie against Aakarshi Kashyap, was brought crashing down as she struggled to get into her stride and went down 20-22, 16-21.

A host of unforced errors coupled with fatigue got the better of Shikha as her unseeded opponent from Chandigarh played a measured game to stroll into the girls’ under-19 final.

In the girls’ under-17 semifinal, Air India’s Prashi, seeded number one, fell to third seeded Purva Barva 17-21, 21-18, 12-21. Prashi was chasing the game right from the start as Purva found a perfect blend of drop shots and smashes to ruffle the top seed. 

In the under-19 girls’ doubles, it will be an all-Karntaka final on Sunday with Mahima Agarwal and Shikha taking on  pairing of Ashwini Bhat and Mithula UK.

Mahima and Shikha beat Riya Mookerjee and Anura Prabhudesai 21-13, 21-12 while Ashwini and Mithula downed state-mates Apeksha Nayak and Archana Pai 21-16, 21-11.
Results: Boys: Under-19: Singles: Quarterfinals: Chirag Sen (AI) bt Aryamann Tandon (Guj) 18-21, 21-12, 21-11; Bodhit Joshi (Utr) bt Siddharth Pratap Singh (Chg) 21-13, 13-21, 21-17; Mithun M (AI) bt Kartikey Gulshan Kumar (AI) 21-13, 21-16; Lakshya Sen (Utr) bt Kiran George (Ker) 21-17, 21-13.

Doubles: Semifinal: Swarnaraj Bora (Asm)/Kaustubh Rawat (Utr) bt Chandra Kumar/Brijesh Yadav (UP) 21-19, 18-21, 21-17; Bodhit Joshi (Utr)/Mithun M (AI) bt Qadeer Moinuddin Mohammed/Vishnuvardhan Goud (Tel) 20-22, 21-8, 21-13.

Quarterfinal: Chandra Kumar/Brijesh Yadav (UP) bt Kartik Jindal/Hardik Makkar (Har) 21-19, 21-19; Swarnaraj Bora (Asm)/Kaustubh Rawat (Utr) bt Sai Pavan Karri (AP)/Sri Krishna Sai Kumar Podile (Tel) 21-12, 21-14; Qadeer Moinuddin Mohammed/Vishnuvardhan Goud (Tel) bt Lalit Dahiya/Rohan Parashar (Har) 21-12, 15-21, 21-18; Bodhit Joshi (Utr)/Mithun M (AI) bt Gouse Shaik/Basheer Syed (AP) 21-16, 21-14.
Under-17: Singles: Quarterfinal: Kartikey Gulshan Kumar (AI) bt Mohit Goury (Har) 21-12, 23-21; Kiran George (Ker) bt Abhyansh Singh (UP) 18-21, 21-13, 21-12;

Rahul Bhardhvaj BM (Kar) bt Orijit Chaliha (AI) 8-12 (retd); Jagadeesh K (AP) bt Monimugdha Rajkonwar (Asm) 21-12, 21-16.

Doubles: Semifinal: Manjit Singh Khwairakpam/Dinnku Sing Konthouiam (Man) bt Aman Raikwar/Yash Raikwar (MP) 21-13, 13-21, 21-17; Qadeer Moinuddin Mohammed/P Vishnuvardhan Goud (Tel) bt Varaprasad Kanakala (AP)/Dhruv Rawat (Utr) 21-13, 13-21, 21-19.

Quarterfinal: Manjit Singh Khwairakpam/Dinnku Sing Konthouiam (Man) bt Siddhant Salar/Abhyansh Singh (UP) 21-19, 21-18; Aman Raikwar/Yash Raikwar (MP) bt Bidyasagar Salam/Punshiba Yengkhom (Man) 23-21, 21-18; Varaprasad Kanakala (AP)/Dhruv Rawat (Utr) bt Shubham Patel/Denis Shrivastava (Raj) 21-19, 21-9; Qadeer Moinuddin Mohammed/P Vishnuvardhan Goud (Tel) bt Navaneeth Bakka (Tel)/Farhaz Hussain Syed (Asm) 21-18, 21-17.

Girls: Under-19: Singles: Semifinal: Aakarshi Kashyap (Chg) bt Shikha Gautam (Kar) 24-22, 21-16; Shriyanshi Pardeshi (MP) bt Vrushali G (Tel) 21-17, 21-16.

Quarterfinal: Shikha Gautam (Kar) bt Archana Pai (Kar) 21-11, 21-13; Aakarshi Kashyap (Chg) bt Tanishq M (AP) 21-13, 21-10; Shriyanshi Pardeshi (MP) bt Anura Prabhudesai (AI) 21-12, 15-21, 21-14; Vrushali G (Tel) bt Prashi Joshi (AI) 21-13, 12-8 (retd).

Doubles: Semifinal: Mahima Aggarwal/Shikha Gautam (Kar) bt Riya Mookerjee (UP)/Anura Prabhudesai (AI) 21-13, 21-12; K Ashwini Bhat/Mithula UK (Kar) bt Apeksha Nayak/Archana Pai (Kar) 21-16, 21-11.

 Quarterfinal: Mahima Aggarwal/Shikha Gautam (Kar) bt Anugraha/Reza Farhath (Ker) 21-14, 21-18; Riya Mookerjee (UP)/Anura Prabhudesai (AI) bt Kavya Gandhi (UP)/Khushboo Kumar (Del) 21-17, 21-14; Apeksha Nayak/Archana Pai (Kar) bt Aswini Gandhimathi/Varshini VS (TN) (w/o); K Ashwini Bhat/Mithula UK (Kar) bt Shivani Pathi (Kar)/Saumya Singh (UP) 21-16, 21-9.

Under-17: Singles: Semifinal: Purva Barve (Mah) bt Prashi Joshi (AI) 21-17, 18-21, 21-12; Aakarshi Kashyap (Chg) bt Rashi Lambe (Mah) 21-10, 2-0 (retd).

Quarterfnal: Prashi Joshi (AI) bt Malvika Bansod (Mah) 15-21, 21-19, 21-18; Purva Barve (Mah) bt K Ashwini Bhat (Kar) 19-21, 21-12, 22-20; Rashi Lambe (Mah) bt Sheethal D (Kar) 21-17, 21-16; Aakarshi Kashyap (Chg) bt Ananya Goel (Del) 21-19, 21-11.

Doubles: Semifinal: K Ashwini Bhat/Mithula UK (Kar) bt Simran Singhi/Ritika Thaker (Mah) 21-14, 21-18; Keyura Mopati (Tel)/Kavipriya S (Pud) bt Durva Gupta/Khushi Gupta (Del) 21-18, 21-16.

Quarterfinal: K Ashwini Bhat/Mithula UK (Kar) bt Trisha Hegde/Drithi Yatheesh (Kar) 21-12, 7-0 (retd); Simran Singhi/Ritika Thaker (Mah) bt Samiya Imad Farooqui/Gayatri Gopichand Pullela (Tel) 13-21, 24-22, 21-17; Keyura Mopati (Tel)/Kavipriya S (Pud) bt Srishti Jupudi/Preethi K (Tel) 18-21, 21-7, 21-19; Durva Gupta/Khushi Gupta (Del) bt Unnati Bisht (Utr)/Aakarshi Kashyap (Chg) 21-19, 14-21, 21-19.

Mixed doubles: Under-19: Semifinal: Balraj Kajla/Mithula UK (Kar) bt Brijesh Yadav/Riya Mookerjee (UP) 21-13, 16-21, 21-10; Chandra Kumar (UP)/Sonika Sai P (AI) bt Tushar Sharma/Tapaswini Samantroy (UP) 15-21, 23-21, 21-15.

Quarterfinal: Brijesh Yadav/Riya Mookerjee (UP) bt Bhardwaj Anant Sharma/Khushboo Kumar (Del) 21-7, 21-10; Balraj Kajla/Mithula UK (Kar) bt Lalit Dahiya (Har)/Diksha Choudhary (Chg) 21-10, 21-17; Tushar Sharma/Tapaswini Samantroy (UP) bt Wahid Thakiyudeen/Anugraha (Ker) 8-21, 21-8, 21-17; Chandra Kumar (UP)/Sonika Sai P (AI) bt Sanjai Srivatsa D (Pud)/Apeksha Nayak (Kar) 21-17, 21-9.