SPO-KHELO-BADMINTON

Khelo: Aman,Aakarshiemerge badminton champions

Pune, Jan 13 (PTI)Aman Farogh Sanjay in the boys

Under-21 singles and Aarya Deshpande and Ananya Phadke in the

Under-17 girls doubles helped hosts Maharashtra add two gold

to their tally on the final day of badminton competition at

the Khelo India Youth Games here Sunday.

However, Malvika Bansod had to settle for a silver as

Chhattisgarh's Aakarshi Kashyap proved too strong for her, a

media release said.

Aman was up against the gritty Rahul Bhardwaj of

Karnataka but the dapper left-hander moved with dexterity and

mixed up his shotswellto make the final his own, winning

21-17, 23-21 in just 40 minutes.

Having lost the Khelo India School Games final in

Delhi, Aakarshi of Chhattisgarh was determined to come up with

a better result here.

Malvika had not dropped a single game on her way to

the final and expectations were high being the crowd

favourite, but Aakarshi, who trains at the Prakash Padukone

Academy in Bengaluru, won 21-11, 21-16 to avenge her Delhi

defeat.

In the girls U-17 doubles, Ananya Phadke and Aarya

Deshpande clinched the gold in a one-sided final.

The Maharashtra duo, who did not drop a single game in

the tournament, outclassed Rajasthan's Sakshi Asrani and

Ankushka Mehta 21-16, 21-13 in just 29 minutes.

In the girls U-17 final, 13-year-old Gopichand Academy

trainee Mir Tasnim Ali of Gujarat overpowered Mansi Singh of

Uttar Pradesh 23-21, 21-16.

In other action, Gandham Pranav Rao of Telangana came

from behind to beat Haryana's Ravi in a thriller 21-15, 18-21,

11-21 to give Telangana their only badminton gold (boys U-17)

of the Games.

Rajasthan's Nikunj Pandey and Shubham Patel beat

C S Kousthik and R Vikash Prabhu of Tamil Nadu 21-15, 22-20 in

the boys doubles U-17 final.

Results: U-21 boys singles: Aman Farogh Sanjay (Mah)

bt Rahul Bhardwaj(Kar) 21-17,23-21 U-21 girls singles:

Aakarshi Kashyap (Chha) bt Malvika Bansod (Mah) 21-11, 21-16

U-17 boys singles:Gandham Rao (Tel) bt Ravi (Haryana) 15-21,

21-18, 21-11 U-17 girls singles: Mir Tansim Ali (Guj) bt

Mansi Singh (UP) 23-21, 21-16 U-17 boys doubles: Nikunj

Pandey/Shubham Patel (Raj) bt C S Kousthik/R Vikash Prabhu

(TN) 21-15, 22-20 U-17 girls doubles: Arya Deshpande/Ananya

Phadke (Mah) bt Sakshi Asrani/Ankushka Mehta (Raj) 21-16,

21-13. PTI NRB

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