Malvika Bansod, Mithun Manjunath win all India senior ranking badminton titles in Hyderabad

The mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh, meanwhile, clinched their second consecutive title.

2 minBy Ali Asgar Nalwala
Malvika Bansod with her Women's Singles title at BAI Series Senior Badminton Ranking Tournament at Hyderabad on Thursday
(BAI)

Upcoming Indian badminton player Malvika Bansod defeated the former South Asian Games medalist Aakarshi Kashyap in the final to clinch her third women’s singles title at all India senior ranking tournament in Hyderabad.

Seeded second, the 20-year-old Malvika Bansod from Nagpur, dominated top seed and Chennai leg winner Aakarshi Kashyap 21-15, 21-9 to win the title decider in 42 minutes.

Both shuttlers will be next seen in action at India Open 2022 in New Delhi from January 11.

In the men’s singles final, eighth seed Mithun Manjunath beat former world junior No. 1 Aditya Joshi 21-15, 21-4 in straight games.

PS Ravikrishna and Sankarprasad Udayakumar, meanwhile, lost to the experienced pair of Krishna Prasad Gagara and Vishnuvardhan Goud P 21-9, 21-12 in the men’s doubles summit clash.

This was their second consecutive loss in the final. In Chennai last week, PS Ravikrishna and Sankarprasad Udaykumar lost to Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar 22-20, 19-21, 21-18 in a tight contest.

In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh won the final to clinch their second straight title. The wildcard entrants defeated Dhruv Rawat and Shikha Gautam 21-14, 21-13 in 33 minutes to win the final.

The women’s doubles title went to Simran Singhi and Khushi Gupta, who defeated Telangana’s Vennala K and Shriyanshi Valishetty 21-16, 21-13 to clinch their first senior national title.

The all India senior ranking tournament in Hyderabad was only the second such competition to be held by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) this year. Last week, the competition was held in Chennai after multiple postponements since March 2020.