The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Pratul, Arun march into final; top seeds fall

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Pratul, Arun march into final; top seeds fall

Special Correspondent

Pratul brushed aside Rohit on his way to the final
Sindhu entered both under-19 and under-17 finals

KOCHI: Despite all the singles top seeds rushing to the exit early, the United India Insurance-RSC all-India junior ranking badminton tournament here saw some very promising heads show up, at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on Saturday.

Like the stylish left-hander Pratul Joshi, a 17-year-old from Madhya Pradesh who trains at the Prakash Padukone Academy in Bangalore. The under-19 defending champion but seeded second here, Pratul brushed aside AP's Rohit Yadav on his way to the final.

Not much trouble

Another talented youngster Arun George, son of Kerala's former national champion George Thomas, reached the under-17 boys final without much trouble.

And as expected, P.V. Sindhu, the 15-year-old who is trained by former All-England champion Gopi Chand at his academy in Hyderabad, entered both the under-19 and under-17 finals.

Sindhu crushed Maharashtra's Riya Pillai in the under-19 girls semifinal and a little later saw her weary opponent Ruthvika Shivani retire midway through the first set in the under-17 semifinal.

But the tournament is turning out to be a graveyard of the top seeds. After the fall of the under-17 girls' No. 1 K. Maneesha on Friday, the other three top seeds — Air India's Sameer Verma (under-19 boys), Saili Rane (under-19 girls) and MP's Aditya Joshi (under-17 boys) — all crashed out. But strangely, none of their conquerors survived the next round.

The results: Boys: U-19: semifinals: N.V.S. Vijetha (AP) bt Arshalan Naqvi (UP) 21-16, 21-13; Pratul Joshi (AI) bt C. Rohit Yadav (AP) 21-15, 21-7. Quarterfinals: Arshalan bt B. Venkatesh (AP) 21-16, 21-18; Vijetha bt Aditya Joshi (MP) 21-17, 21-12; Rohit bt Shubhankar Dey (Mah) 21-16, 16-21, 21-13; Pratul bt A. Vishal Dev Reddy (AP) 21-9, 21-14. Pre-quarterfinals: B. Venkatesh bt Sameer Verma (AI) 9-21, 21-16, 21-19.

U-17: semifinals: Dani Harsheel (Mah) bt S. Daniel Afridi (Kar) 21-9, 21-16; Arun George (Ker) bt Rupinder Singh (Chd) 21-16 21-13. Quarterfinals: Daniel bt Aditya Joshi (MP), 21-16 21-17; Dani bt Jaiswal Shreyansh (Chd) 23-21, 19-21, 21-16; Rupinder bt Siddharath Thakur (Mah) 21-14, 14-21, 21-6; Arun bt Arshalan Naqvi (UP) 21-13, 21-19. Girls: U-19: semifinals: P. V. Sindhu (AP) bt Riya Pillai (Mah) 21-10, 21-8; Tanvi Lad (AI) bt Gauri Ghate (Mah) 15-21, 21-17, 21-14. Quarterfinals: Riya bt Saili Rane (AI) 21-18, 21-19; Sindhu bt Daya Elsa Jacob (Ker) 21-7, 21-13; Tanvi bt G. Ruthvika Shivani (AP) 21-14, 21-12; Gauri bt Arathi Sara Sunil (Ker) 21-15, 10-21, 21-15.

U-17: semifinals: P.V. Sindhu (AP) bt G. Ruthvika Shivani (AP) 10-3 (retd); Rituparna Das (WB) bt V. Harika (AP) 21-12, 21-9. Quarterfinals: Ruthvika bt Karishma Wadkar (Mah) 21-19, 21-19; Sindhu bt Sara Naqvi (UP) 21-3, 21-8; Rituparna bt R. Santoshi Hasini (AP) 21-12, 21-12; V. Harika (AP) bt Karthik Reshma (Ktk) 21-9, 22-20 .

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