Gayatri Gopichand, Treesa Jolly crowned national badminton champions

Top seed Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly were crowned the new women’s doubles champions

Hyderabad: Top seed Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly were crowned the new women’s doubles champions as they defeated Kavya Gupta and Deepshikha Singh 21-10, 21-9 in the title clash at the Yonex Sunrise 84th senior national badminton championship in the Balewadi stadium here on Tuesday.

Former world junior no. 1 Anupama Upadhyaya and Mithun Manjunath registered contrasting victories to clinch the women’s and men’s singles titles respectively.

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Eighteen-year-old Anupama got the better of Aakarshi Kashyap 20-22, 21-17, 24-22 in an hour and 18 minutes in the women’s singles final before Mithun domination the men’s singles summit clash against Priyanshu Rajawat for a 21-16, 21-11 victory in just 38 minutes.

T Hemanagendra Babu and Kanika Kanwal downed Siddarth Elango and Khushi Gupta 21-17, 21-16 to clinch the mixed doubles crown.

Men’s doubles combination of S Kushal Raj and S Prakash Raj wrapped up the proceedings to clinch the men’s doubles title.

The women’s singles final was a topsy-turvy affair with both players fighting for every point.

The experienced Aakarshi fought back from 11-15 in the opening game by winning seven of the next eight points and pocketed the game on second game point.

But the reversal only made Anupama more determined to go on the offensive as she began with a 3-0 lead in the second, extended it to 9-1 and then maintained the advantage to force the decider.

The 18-year-old from Haryana looked like running away with the title and prize purse of Rs 3.25 lakh when she opened up a 17-10 lead in the decider. But Aakarshi wasn’t willing to give up.

Results (Finals): Singles: Men: Mithun Manjunath bt Priyanshu Rajawat 21-16, 21-11; Women: Anupama Upadhyaya bt Aakarshi Kashyap 20-22, 21-17, 24-22; Doubles: Men: S Kushal Raj/S Prakash Raj bt Akshan Shetty/Deep Rambiya 8-21, 21-19, 21-8; Women: Gayatri Gopichand/Treesa Jolly bt Kavya Gupta/Deepshikha Singh 21-10, 21-9; Mixed doubles: T Hemanagendra Babu/Kanika Kanwal bt Siddarth Elango/Khushi Gupta 21-17, 21-16.