Chandigarh shuttler bags twin gold in national championship

Chandigarh, May 18

City shuttler Samarveer Sharma has won double gold in the All-India Junior (U-19) Ranking Badminton Tournament in Guwahati (Assam). He ousted top seed players in the quarterfinal, semifinal and final in both singles and mixed doubles categories.

In the boys’ U-19 singles, Sharma ousted Pranay Shettigar in a see-saw battle which lasted for over an hour. Sharma lost the first game 15-21, but only to return with a stunning 21- 11 21-10 win in the next two games and bag the historic gold.

In the semis, he stunned fourth seeded Lokesh Reddy 21-17 21-17. In mixed doubles U-19 final, Sharma and Radhika Sharma (from Punjab) stunned Bharat Sanjai and Sania Sikkander 21-14 21-13 to win gold.

The secretary, Chandigarh Badminton Association (CBA), Surinder Mahajan, congratulated Sharma. Col Raj Parmar, senior vice-president of CBA, also congratulated Sharma’s coach.