Pune: City-based Tara Shah pocketed her third all-India Under-15 girls singles title of the year standing tall in the All India Sub Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament 2018, in Patna on Monday.
Seeded No. 2, the Nikhil Kanetkar Badminton Academy (NKBA) trainee upstaged No 4. seed Taneesha Singh from Uttar Pradesh 21-19, 21-8 in a 31-minute dual at the Patliputra Sports Complex.
Tara’s win over Taneesha was her second win in a row over her rival.
The Pune girl had earlier beaten her opponent in Hyderabad during the semi-finals of another tournament, en route her title winning run. The title in Bihar adds up to the Hyderabad (August) and Gulbarga (January) titles she won earlier.
Sublime run
In her run to the final Tara downed seeded players in No. 3 Anupama Upadhyaya (Haryana) apart from surviving her own academy player Riya Habbu 21-11, 9-21, 21-16 in what was her longest match of the tournament that lasted 48 minutes in the quarterfinals.
In the Under-17 section, Tara fell to Khushi Thakkar 7-21, 21-13, 18-21 in the pre-quarterfinals.
Results
Final: bt 4-Taneesha Singh (UP) 21-19, 21-8
Semfinal: bt 3-Anupama Upadhyaya (Har) 21-19, 21-14
Quarterfinal: bt Riya Habbu (Mah) 21-11, 9-21, 21-16
Round 3: bt Ayushi Dodhwal (Del) 21-16, 21-19
Round 2: bt Q-Sri Sai Sravya Lakkamraju (Tel) 21-18, 21-15
Round 1: bt Q-Ashritha Kandula (Tel) 20-22, 21-10, 21-8
