Badminton: Aakarshi Kashyap and Kiran George crowned Champions

Rising Indian shuttlers, Aakarshi Kashyap and Kiran George continued their fine form in the domestic circuit to register their respective second singles title of the year at the Yonex Sunrise All India Senior Ranking tournament in Vijayawada on Sunday. Both Kashyap and George, who had previously won titles in the ranking tournament in Bangalore couple of months back put up impeccable performances to herald the top honours. Third seed Aakarshi Kashyap got the better of seventh-seeded Anura Prabhudesai in the Girl’s Singles summit clash cruising to a comfortable 21-12, 21-16 victory. On the other hand, Kiran George, who won his first title after a two-year drought in April followed suit to notch up the year’s second singles title after rallying from a game down to defeat eighth seed Siril Verma 21-9, 15-21, 21-11 in a contest that lasted almost an hour. Speaking after the win, George said,”It’s

a big win. This is my second senior tournament victory this year, so it will definitely give me a boost to work harder and perform better.” Quarter finalist at last week's Azerbaijan International, Maneesha Kukkapalli and Rutuparna Panda cohamntinued their fine run as they staged an upset to eke out the current National Champions and third seeds Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat. With both teams breathing down their opponent's necks in the first game, the pair of Maneesha and Rutuparna stepped up to the cause to secure the gold without dropping any games at 23-21, 21-10. Dhruv Kapila and Krishna Prasad G In the Men's Doubles finals, top-seeded pair of

Krishna Prasad and Dhruv Kapila continued their domination to stave off a stiff challenge from Arjun MR and Shlok Ramachandran to win 17-21, 22-20, 21-16 in a hard-fought contest. This was the pair's third MD title, having previously won in Kozhikode and Bengaluru Ranling tournaments. It was, however, a double joy for Dhruv Kapila, who has been in sublime form as he lifted the mixed doubles (XD U19) crown too with partner Meghana Jakkampudi outclassing Shlok Ramachandran and Rutuparna Panda 17-21;22-20,21-16- in a close fight that lasted more than an hour. This win marked Dhurv Kapila's cumulative fourth doubles title of the year.