Badminton: Mansi Singh & Ravi upset top seeds to claim titles at All India Junior Ranking Tournament

Young badminton stars Ravi and Mansi Singh put up brilliant performances to stun the top seeds and claim titles in boys' singles and girls' singles sections respectively at the All India Junior Ranking Tournament 2020 here in Chandigarh yesterday.

In a blockbuster boys' singles final between the top two seeds, Haryana boy Ravi dropped the middle game but managed to rebound for a 21-17, 19-21, 21-8 win over top seed Rohan Gurbani in 1 hour 5 minutes.

In girls' singles, Uttar Pradesh shuttler Mansi Singh showed a lot of determination and steely resolve to stave off a stiff challenge from the title favourite Tasnim Mir of Gujarat. After losing the first game, the top seed made the second game highly competitive only to see Singh edge her with a 21-17, 21-19 win. Singh finished the tournament without dropping a game in six matches.

The boys' doubles category also witnessed a mini upset as the sixth-seeded Kerala-Telengana duo of Ravikrishna PS and Sai Vishnu Pullela beat fourth seeds Gireesh Nayudu B and Sankarprasad Udayakumar 18-21, 21-18, 21-16 in 44 minutes.

Second seeds Aditi Bhatt and Tanya Hemanth reversed the upset trend with a strong display in girls' doubles. The Uttarakhand-Karnataka combine soared to a commanding 21-11, 21-9 win against Shruti Mishra and Shailja Shukla.

Having lost the girls' doubles final, Shruti Mishra tasted glory in mixed doubles in partnership with Kerala's Edwin Joy. The top seeds cruised to a 21-18, 21-14 win over fourth seeds Aravind V. Suresh and Srivedya Gurazada.

This event was the first of the selection tournaments for the upcoming Dutch and German Junior Open with the next one scheduled to be held in Bangalore from January 21-26.