Airport Authority clinch 7th title in Inter State-Inter Zonal Badminton Championships
Our Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI: Asian Junior Champion Lakshya Sen along with the mixed doubles pair of Shlok Ramchandran and Shriyanshi Pardeshi put up a brilliant show to guide their team Airports Authority of India (AAI) to clinch 74th Inter State-Inter Zonal Badminton Championships title in Guwahati today. AAI won the thrilling final 3-2. This is the seventh occasions when the AAI won the prestigious championship.
The 17-year-old Sen battled for 55 minutes before he could subdue Subhankar Dey 21-17, 21-17 in the men’s singles clash.
In a face-off between two rising women’s singles stars of the country, Aakarshi Kashyap notched up a sublime 21-12, 21-14 win over the Railways’ Anura Prabhudesai to send the AAI 2-0 up. AAI looked much comfort position that time.
But Railways put up an incredible fightback. The men’s doubles pair of Kabir Kanzarkar and Hemanagendra Babu held their nerves to edge out Shlok Ramchandran and Chirag Sen 21-18, 17-21, 21-18.
In women’s doubles, only match in the final which was one sided, Riya Mookerjee and Anura Prabhudesai rose to the occasion with a commanding 21-8, 21-8 triumph over Pardeshi and Sneha Santhilal.
Pardeshi soon managed to brush aside that setback and joined forces with Ramchandran to get a 21-9, 17-21, 21-8 win over Kanika Kanwal and Akshay Raut and fetch the vital deciding point for the AAI.
The winners were awarded prize money of Rs 3.5 lakh and the runners-up Railways received Rs 2.5 lakhs. Assam and Andhra Pradesh, jointly declared third place winner, collected Rs 2 lakh each.
Results:
MS: Lakshya Sen (AAI) def Subhankar Dey (Railways) 21-17, 21-17. WS: Aakarshi Kashyap (AAI) def Anura Prabhudesai (Railways) 21-12, 21-14. MD: Kabir Kanzarkar/Hemanagendra Babu (Railways) def Shlok Ramchandran/Chirag Sen (AAI) 21-18, 17-21, 21-18. WD: Riya Mookerjee/Anura Prabhudesai (Railways) def Shriyanshi Pardeshi/Sneha Santhilal (AAI) 21-8, 21-8. XD: Shriyanshi Pardeshi/Shlok Ramchandran (AAI) def Kanika Kanwal/Akshay Raut (Railways) 21-9, 17-21, 21-8.
Also Read: Sports news
