The Shuttlers of Uttarakhand dominated the proceedings as they were able to win maximum number of events at the All India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament which concluded here on Sunday.
In the all brothers final of under 19 boys, Chirag Sen of Air India defeated his bother lakshya Sen of Uttarakhand. In match that stretched to three rounds Chriag withered a spirited challenge from lakshaya and defeated him by 21-13, 10-21 and 21-13. In the Girls under 19 final Shriyanshi Pardeshi of Air India defeated Vrushali G of Andhra Pradesh by 22-24, 21-6, 21-13.
In the Boys under 17 final match lakshya Sen of Uttarakhand defeated Arintap Dasgupta of West Bengal by 21-19, 21-19. Kanika Kanwal of Delhi defeated Riya Mookerjee of Uttar Pradesh by 21-17,21-12 in the final event of Girls under 17 match. In the under 19 Boys double event the pair of R Kapoor (Delhi) and S Sharma (Haryana) edged pass the pair of Arjun M R (Kerala) and Chirag Shetty (Maharashtra) in a marathon 16-21, 21-18, 21-18 match. In the under 19 Girls double final the pair of A Kuvelkar (Goa) and A Parikh (Gujarat) defeated Vaishnavi Iyer (Karnataka) and Malavika J K (Kerala) by 21-18,21-17
In Boys under 17 double final Bodhit Joshi (Uttarakhand) and Chirag Sen (Air India) defeated the pair of Kartik Jindal and Hardik Makkar of Haryana by 21-14, 22-20. In the doubles final of under 17 Girls the pair of Kuhoo Garg (Uttarakhand) and Harika V (Air India) defeated the pair of Riya Mookerjee (Uttar Pradesh) and Aruna Prabhudesai (Goa) by 21-14,22-20.
In the under 19 mixed doubles final Kuhoo Garg of Uttarakhand paired with Arjun M R of Kerala to defeat the pair of Ahillya Harjani (Maharashtra) and Saurabh Sharma of Haryana by 21-13,21-14.
The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Harish Rawat and sports Minister Dinesh Agarwal handed over the prizes in a programe organised to felicitate the winners. The Chief Minister also gave special award of Rs 50000 each to Uttarakhand players Kuhoo Garg, Chirag Sen, lakshya Sen and Bodhit Joshi.Kuhoo Garg was adjudged the best player of the tournament as she was winner in U-19 Girls Doubles and Mixed Doubles and she was the only player who won in two categories. In his address Rawat said that though the resources of the state are limited the state government would do every possible effort to promote the sports and its infrastructure in the state. He said that the police department has been directed that the players recruited in the department should be given no other task apart from playing. The Chief Minister asked the sports minister to prepare such a plan so that the sportspersons of the state are able to excel at the national and international platforms.