Teens Kartik and Malvika steal show

LUCKNOW: Teenagers Kartik Jindal and Malvika Bansod sizzled with impressive performances in the ongoing Dr Akhilesh Das Gupta Memorial All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament at Bareilly on Friday.

At the Sports Stadium, the 19-year-old Jindal from Haryana eased into the men’s singles final with a 21-9, 21-6 victory over Delhi’s Aakash Yadav while Malvika, the 17-year-old sensation from Nagpur, fought her way into the women’s singles semifinal by recording a 21-18, 21-17 win over Air India’s 18-year-old Bhavya Rishi.

Another Nagpur girl, Vaishnavi Bhale made it to the women’s singles final overcoming Chhatisgarh teen Aakarshi Kashyap 21-14, 10-21, 21-16.

The seventh seeded Vaishnavi, 22, had to draw upon all her experience to down the 17-yearold Aakarshi, who had earlier stunned third seed Rasika Raje 11-21, 21-16, 21-16 in the quarterfinal.

Vaishnavi’s run to the final has not been easy as she was stretched in the quarters as well by 15th seed Kanika Kanwal of Railways before winning13-21, 21-16, 21-13. Jindal too had to toil hard to enter the last four stage upstaging 11th seed Vijetha NVS from Telangana 21-23, 21-16, 21-15.

Top seed Pratul Joshi of Madhya Pradesh quelled the challenge of Delhi’s Swamaraj Bora 24-22, 21-19 while West Bengal’s 19-year-old Arintap Dasgupta downed Railways’ Neeraj Vashisth 21-12, 21-10 in other men’s singles quarterfinal clashes of the day.

The finals of the tournament, which has a prize money of Rs 5 lakh, will be played on Saturday.

AT THE SPORTS STADIUM, THE 19YEAROLD JINDAL FROM HARYANA EASED INTO THE MEN’S SINGLES FINAL WITH A 219, 216 VICTORY OVER DELHI’S AAKASH YADAV