Mayra beats Sherin, moves into badminton quarterfinal

Mayra Katlaria moved into the quarterfinal of the girls’ U-11 category by defeating Fazilka’s Sherin 15-6, 15-8 on the second day of the North Zone Cash Prize Badminton Tournament, organised by the Chandigarh Badminton Association at the Sector 38 sports complex. Ludhiana’s Aanya Tiwari also cemented her place in the quarterfinal stage by defeating Patiala’s Savreen Kaur 15-1, 15-4, while Ruhani Gupta defeated Meharroop Kaur 15-7, 15-8.

Samridhi Kushwaha of the Sector 38 complex ousted Yuvika Tyagi 18-16, 15-8. In the pre-quarterfinals of the girls’ U-15 age group, Mohali’s Divnoor Kaur defeated Jalandhar’s Nimrat Kaur Mann 15-6, 15-6, while local challenger Paavni Gupta posted a 15-10, 15-10 win over Arnaaz Kaur. Chandigarh’s Riddhima managed to overpower Patiala’s Mannat Kaur 13-15, 15-6, 15-11, and Hargun Kaur easily defeated Patiala’s Aliyana Goel 15-8, 15-12.

Jyoti also cleared her pre-quarterfinal stage before facing some resistance from Aunika Duggal with scores of 15-13, 6-15, 15-13, while Sehajpreet Kaur outplayed Aadya Singh Meena 15-12, 15-12. Ojasvita Dubay played a see-saw match against Sirat Baidwan before posting a 15-12, 10-15, 15-12 win.

Meanwhile, in the girls’ doubles U-13 quarterfinals, the pair of Prashi Ahlawat and Yahanna Bhatia posted a comeback with a 8-15, 15-13, 15-9 win over Arnaaz Kaur and Pragun, while Ditya Arora and Nitara Sharma defeated Nimrat Kaur Mann and Samaira Aggarwal in similar fashion with a 15-12, 11-15, 16-14 win. The team of Kaylin Luthra and Manmeet Kaur overpowered Aanya Tiwari and Yuvika Tyagi with 11-15, 15-11, 15-7 score, followed by an easy win log by Japleen Kaur and Tania Dhiman over Raizel Garg and Seerat Chaudhary with 15-4, 15-6 score. In the girls’ doubles U-15 event, Aunika Duggal and Tanishka Pant defeated Divnoor Kaur and Hargun Kaur 12-15, 15-10, 15-10.

In the girls’ U-17 pre-quarterfinals, Vaani Panchal stunned Aakriti with a comeback 15-9, 12-15, 15-3 victory, while Jivika Sohlot of Bahadurgarh defeated Jaipur’s Priyanshi Choudhary 15-7, 15-7. Mohali’s Divnoor Kaur also moved ahead by defeating Simarpreet Kaur 15-9, 15-12, while Anayta Dohare defeated Tanya 15-12, 15-11. Hargun Kaur defeated Patiala’s Mannat Kaur 15-6, 12-15, 15-12, while Delhi’s Aarnavi Gupta ousted Bhagya Gulati 13-15, 15-8, 15-8 in the last two matches.

Amritsar’s Kabir Sharma moved into the boys’ U-11 quarterfinals by defeating Teghbir Singh 15-6, 15-9 and Samarveer defeated Arshiv Gupta 15-2, 15-7. Akshit Sharma of Mohali defeated Yuvraj Singh Thakur 15-6, 15-1, and Vedant Kawatra defeated Rudraash Sharma 15-8, 14-16, 15-7 after a touch-and-go battle. Madhav Jagga also struggled hard before defeating Bhavya 15-14, 9-15, 15-12 and Sartaj Singh defeated Reyansh Rana 15-9, 15-6. Manveer Punia posted a comeback 11-15, 15-13, 15-9 win over Lakshith Rewar.

Chandigarh’s Vansh Sood defeated another local contender Gurtaj Singh 15-9, 15-4 to clear the round of 32 in the boys’ U-17 category. Tejas Dewali of Una outplayed Anush Rana 15-10, 12-15, 15-12 and Aryan Makkar ousted Vedant Rahi 15-10, 15-4. Shivang Duhan of Rohtak defeated Anakh Singh 16-18, 15-10, 20-18, while Delhi’s Aarav Pratap Singh defeated Aryan Kharbanda 15-5, 15-12. Akshay Machal defeated Karnal’s Narveer Singh 15-13, 10-15, 15-10. Aaron defeated Shagun Rana 15-8, 15-9, Ekamjeet Singh outplayed Laksh Sachdeva 15-6, 15-6 and Aarit Dahiya made a comeback against Samarth Bhardwaj 8-15, 15-12, 15-13.

Meanwhile, the Chandigarh Badminton Association honoured local veteran shuttlers, who won medals for the city in the recently concluded Masters National Badminton Tournament in Goa. The players were awarded with special awards and kits by the Chandigarh Sports Director Sorabh Kumar Arora at the Sector 38 sports complex.