Thakkar sets up title clash with Sridhar

Thane, August 19: Unseeded Thane boy Himanshu Thakkar, the State champion, will meet third seed Anup Sridhar of Air-India in the final of ...

Thane, August 19: Unseeded Thane boy Himanshu Thakkar, the State champion, will meet third seed Anup Sridhar of Air-India in the final of the junior boys (under-19) singles event in the All-India Junior Major Ranking Badminton Tournament here on Sunday.

In Saturday’s semi-finals, Thakkar quelled the stiff challenge put up by his state rival and sub-juniors (under-16) top seed Nishad Dravid 17-16, 6-15, 15-6 in 70 minutes while Sridhar got past his Air-India mate and second seed SDS Krishna 15-7, 17-14 in half an hour.

The junior girls singles title-clash will be between Parul Priyadarshini, the top-seeded Railways shuttler, and Andhra Pradesh’s third-seeded Jwala Gutta.

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Parul whipped Shruti Kurien of AP 11-3, 11-4 while Jwala got the better of second seed Trupti Murgunde of Air-India 11-5, 11-6 in the semi-finals.

Top seed Ajay Jairam and his Maharashtra statemate Abhinav Kapoor, seeded fourth, would contest the midget (under-13) boys singles final while the corresponding girls’ title-clash will be between top seed Aditi Mutatkar (Maharashtra) and third seed Madhuri Vijay (Karnataka).

Arun Nandaluri of AP clinched the boys under-10 title when he outstroked Niket Karnatak of UP 15-13, 15-6 in the final.

Results: Midget Boys Singles (Semi-finals): Ajay Jairam (Mah) beat Yash Wagh (Mah) 15-1, 15-4; Abhinav Kapoor (Mah) beat Samrudha Rathod (Mah) 15-1, 15-4. Midget Girls Singles (Semi-finals): Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) beat Neha Pandit (Mah) 11-0, 11-2; Madhuri Vijay (Kar) beat Shilpa Ghoshray (Mah) 11-9, 11-9. Mini Girls Singles (Semi-finals): Vinita Ghate (Mah) beat Meera Parekh (Mah) 11-2, 11-2; Pradnya Gadre (Mah) beat Rucha Ganpule (Mah) 11-0, 11-0. Mini Boys Singles (Semi-finals): Niket Karnatak (UP) beat Pareen Chopra (Mah) 15-4, 15-8; Arun Nandaluri (AP) beat Pratik Patel (Guj) 15-13, 15-3.