Deepti in line for double

NEW DELHI, May 22: After a lukewarm opening day, Ujjwal Kharbanda, Delhi's top under-13 player, turned on the heat in the Delhi State mini b...

NEW DELHI, May 22: After a lukewarm opening day, Ujjwal Kharbanda, Delhi8217;s top under-13 player, turned on the heat in the Delhi State mini badminton championship at the Indira Gandhi Stadium here today.

His engaging three-game match against an equally talented Rajeev Bajaj produced the best badminton on the penultimate day of the championships which saw Deepti Ranjan cruising into the girls under-13 and under-16 finals.

Meanwhile, Ujjwal8217;s cousin Himanshu crashed out to Sidharth Gulati in straight games in the under-13 event. Thursday8217;s tinytots in the limelight lost out to better built players in the boys under-10 semi-finals. While Rahul Khera disposed off Bharat Bajaj, the tiniest of them all, 15-4, 15-9, Ashmeet Singh took out Karan Bhagat rather easily at 15-6, 15-4. Isha Gupta set up a final clash with Deepti Ranjan in the girls under-13 event defeating an off-colour Chitra in straight games. Deepti whitewashed Astha Aryika to make the grade. Apoorv Vij moved up in the boys under -13 event with a hard fought win against Amit Kumar. After wrapping up the first game 15-7, he let up in the second to allow Amit a 15-12 scoreline but hit back in the decider to close it out 18-15.

Results
Boys singles under-13: Manek Sehgal bt Naresh Rawat 15-4, 15-3, Apoorv Vij bt Amit Kumar 15-7, 12-15, 18-15, Sandeep Kaushik bt Rishi Jain 15-0, 15-1, Akash Singh bt Pradeep Kumar 15-1, 15-0, Manish bt Saurabh Jha 15-2,15-1, Manak Sehgal bt Kunal Dalmia 15-0, 15-0, Sidharth Gulati bt Himanshu Kharbanda 15-2, 15-4, Mubashir Khan bt Amit 15-9, 15-9.
Boys under-10 sf: Rahul Khera bt Bharat Bajaj 15-4, 15-6, Ashmeet Singh bt Karan Bhagat 15-6, 15-4.
Girls under-13 sf: Isha Gupta bt Chitra 11-5, 11-1, Deepti Ranjan bt Astha Aryika 11-0, 11-0.
Girls under-16 sf: Diva Arora bt Isha Gupta 11-2, 11-1, Deepti Ranjan bt Parul Rawat 11-4, 11-3; Doubles: Sujata/ Deepti bt Chitra/ Astha 15-0, 15-3, Parul Rawat/ Diva Arora bt Sheena/ Isha 15-0, 15-5.
Boys under-16 sf: Puneet bt Apoorv Vij 15-2, 15-7, Tanveer Gill bt Sidharth Gulati 15-8, 15-7, Mubashir Khan bt Sandeep Kaushik 15-11, 15-8, Akash Singh bt Puneet Kumar 15-8, 15-7.