Sanjana Santosh of Maharashtra and Mahima Agarwal of Karnataka have won the women’s doubles in All India Satyapal Kumar Memorial Tournament in the last match played out. In the seesaw match that enthralled all present, they defeated Uttarakhand’s Kuhu Garg and NB Hazarika of Assam by 21-18 and 21-12.
Sanjana who plays on behalf of the Indian Airlines would lead India in the World Women Badminton Championship to be held in Scotland. While talking to The Pioneer, she said that the win here has boosted her morale before she lands in Scotland. Nineteen- year- old Kuhu Garg from Uttarakhand who tasted defeat after giving a spirited fight said that she had learnt many tips from this match which would help her in the upcoming matches.
In the men’s doubles, Arun Kumar of Karnataka and Sanjay Shukla of Indian Airlines won the trophy, defeating Maharashtra couple by 21-17 and 21-10. In the mixed doubles, Saurabh Sharma of Haryana and Anushka Parekh of Gujarat won over Kuhu Garg of Uttarakhand and Rohan Kapoor of Delhi by 21-17 and 22-19.
Organised for the first time in Haridwar, this tourney witnessed a lot of excitement. The international players and Arjun awardee V Diju and Chetan Anand lost at the qualifying level matches. Sounding happy over the performance of the players, ADG Uttarakhand Ashok Kumar said that all the 265 players have risen up to the challenge by playing as per the international standards.
The president of the District Badminton Association Neeraj Kumar said, “With this tournament, decks are cleared for Uttarakhand to host tournaments in the coming days. The successful conduct of the tournament here would send the message across the country that Haridwar has the infrastructure required for holding national-level contests.”