Odisha Open: Teenager Unnati, Unseeded George triumph

Cuttack: Teenager Unnati Hooda became the youngest Indian to win a Super 100 tournament as she beat compatriot Smit Toshniwal in straight games to claim the women’s singles title while unseeded Kiran George emerged triumphant in men’s singles final of Odisha Open badminton tournament here on Sunday. Producing an excellent performance to emerge triumphant in […]

Cuttack: Teenager Unnati Hooda became the youngest Indian to win a Super 100 tournament as she beat compatriot Smit Toshniwal in straight games to claim the women’s singles title while unseeded Kiran George emerged triumphant in men’s singles final of Odisha Open badminton tournament here on Sunday.

Producing an excellent performance to emerge triumphant in her event, the 14-year-old Unnati won 21-18 21-11 to be crowned champion in the inaugural edition of the $75,000 Odisha Open.

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Hosts India dominated the last day’s proceedings winning three out of the five finals. The 21-year-old George prevailed over fellow Indian Priyanshu Rajawat 21-15 14-21 21-18 to clinch the men’s singles title after battling hard for 58 minutes.

In another all-Indian final, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, daughter of former All England Open champion and Indian badminton legend Pullela Gopichand, defeated Sanyogita Ghorpade and Shruti Mishra 21-12 21-10 to claim the women’s doubles title after a 28-minute contest.

But in the mixed doubles final, India’s MR Arjun and Jolly suffered a 16-21 20-22 defeat at the hands of the Sri Lankan duo of Sachin Dias and Thilini Hendadahewa in a match that lasted 36 minutes. There was also no Indian victory in the men’s doubles summit clash as the Malaysian duo of Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Lim Khim got the better of the host nation’s Wah Ravikrishna PS and Sankar Prasad Udayakumar 18-21 21-14 21-16.

The keenly-contested men’s doubles match lasted 51 minutes. Unnati, who entered the final after she surprised Indian Open finalist Malvika Bansod 24-22 24-22 in the last-four clash on Saturday, took 35 minutes to get the better of Toshniwal in the summit showdown of the women’s singles at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Indoor Statdium.

Toshniwal too pulled off an upset, knocking out Ashmita Chaliha, seeded five, 21-19, 10-21, 21-17, to set up the title clash with Unnati. Unnati claimed the the first game after making a comeback and riding on the momentum, she won the second game without much difficulty as Toshniwal had no answer to her opponent’s aggressive approach.

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