Thakkar threads a double

MUMBAI, Sept 13: Seventh seed Himanshu Thakkar capped an amazing run by beating top seed Amogh Kulkarni 15-9 15-4 to win the junior boys ...

MUMBAI, Sept 13: Seventh seed Himanshu Thakkar capped an amazing run by beating top seed Amogh Kulkarni 15-9 15-4 to win the junior boys title in the Junior State Open Badminton Championship at Kalidas Sports Complex here today. Himanshu had scalped second seed Vinayak Puthran in the quarters.

He later notched a double when, along with Bhushan Paithankar, he claimed the doubles title, beating top seeds Rohan Radhakrishnan and Harshad Tawde 15-11 15-9. Top seed Trupti Murgunde won the junior girls title beating Gauri Narayan 11-9 11-4. In the midgets category, Mulund boy Sagar Chopda and Sangli girl Dipti Paranjpe each won double titles. Sagar, the third seed, beat top seed Aditya Chitre in the singles and teamed up with Anand Pawar to win the doubles. Dipti beat Meghana Pavaskar in the singles final, and, in the company of Riddhi Panjwani, added the doubles title to her tally.In the junior boys, former junior national doubles champion Amogh flirted with disaster in trying too many things against theconsistent Himanshu.

From 4-all, Himanshu wrapped up the first game with just two or three breaks of serve. Amogh showed signs of controlling the play in the second play as he eschewed his risks and led 7-4. But another brilliant run gave Himanshu a 10-7 lead. From there on, Amogh was merely delaying the inevitable.

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The girls final produced a close first game. Trupti led 8-0 before Gauri pegged her back and drew level at 9. Trupti reeled off the remaining two points and, despite trailing 3-4 in the second, cantered to victory.The best display came from Nishad Dravid in the sub-junior boys final. The Nagpur lad, Nishad, had speed on court, played almost flawlessly and anticipated well to annihilate Sumedh Deorukhkar of Thane 15-2 15-4.

Results (all finals)Seedings in pre-fix:Junior boys singles: 7-Himanshu Thakkar (Thane) bt Amogh Kulkarni (Mumbai Sub) 15-5 15-9; Doubles: Bhushan Paithankar & Thakkar (Thane) bt 1-Rohan Radhakrishnan & Harshad Tawde (Greater Mumbai) 15-11 15-9Sub-juniorboys singles: 1-Nishad Dravid (Nagpur) bt Sumedh Deorukhkar (Thane) 15-2 15-4; Doubles: Deorukhkar & Amar Mohite bt Nishad Dravid & Sohan Gadgil 15-6 15-10

Midget boys singles: 3-Sagar Chopda (MS) bt 1-Aditya Chitre (Pune) 15-9 15-4; Doubles: Anand Pawar & Sagar Chopda (MS) bt Aditya Chitre & Nilesh Joshi (Pune) 15-7 15-1

Junior girls singles: 1-Trupti Murgunde (Pune) bt Gauri Narayan 11-9 11-4; Doubles: Kranti Sane & Mugdha Bhagwat (MS) bt Trupti Murgunde & Gauri Narayan 15-11 6-15 15-13

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Sub-junior girls singles: 2-Gauri Narayan (MS) bt 1-Mugdha Bhagwat (Pune) 11-2 11-3; Doubles: Mugdha & Gauri Bhange (Pune) bt Manasi Bhor & Dhanya Nair (Pune) 15-8 15-12

Midget girls singles: 1-Dipti Paranjpe (Sangli) bt Meghana Pavaskar (Pune) 11-5 11-4; Doubles: Dipti Paranjpe & Riddhi Panjwani bt Shweta Khare & Ruma Rane 15-1 15-8.

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