Sameer Verma wins boys singles u-19 title

Sameer Verma, currently India Junior #1, won the Boys singles under-19 badminton title at the recently concluded Shree Ganga Dham All India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament, Haridwar-2011.

Sameer Verma, who hails from Dhar in Madhya Pradesh, defeated 3rd seeded Rohit Yadav C. 21-13, 21-18 in the finals.

Verma who started out as the top seed in the tournament, justified his top billing by winning the title. He had a smooth run in the tournament & the only match where he was stretched to 3 sets was in the semi-finals against 4th seed Srikanth K.

Sameer's results from this Haridwar Junior Ranking tournament are as below:

First round:         Sameer Verma (AI) defeated Ketan Chahal 21-10, 21-12
Second round:    Sameer Verma (AI) defeated Abhishek Yeligar with an identical score 21-10, 21-12
Quarter-Finals:   Sameer Verma (AI) defeated 5th seed Vijetha N.V.S. 21-11, 21-10
Semi-Finals:       Sameer Verma (AI) defeated 4th seed Srikanth K. 19-21 21-15 21-10
Final Match:       Sameer Verma (AI) defeated 4th seed Rohit Yadav C. 21-13 21-18

While Sameer Verma is currently India's top rated Junior player, his elder brother Sourabh Verma is currently the Senior India No.1 as per the latest Indian National Rankings.

And to their credit, both the brothers are justifying their rankings by performing well at the Ranking tournaments. While Sameer has won this junior ranking tournament at Haridwar, Saurabh Verma won the Senior Ranking tournament that was held at Atul in Gujarat recently.

Saili Rane wins Girls u-19 title

Thane girl Saili Rane overcame the tough challenge of arch-rival Tanvi Lad of Mumbai in the finals of Girls singles under-19 event at the Shree Ganga Dham All India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament, at Haridwar-2011. Saili defeated Tanvi 21-10, 16-21, 21-15.

Earlier, in the semi-finals Saili had played out another tough match in which she defeated Gauri Ghate 21-19, 22-24, 21-18.

Saili also paired with Arathi Sara Sunil, in the Girls doubles u-19 event, to win her second title of the tournament, defeating G.Ruthvika Shivani & Poorvisha S.R. 21-13, 21-19 in the finals.

SAILI RANE'S RECENT PERFORMANCES

Jan-2011
Saili played the 75th Senior National Badminton Championships, Rohtak-2010, and lost in the 3rd round against defending champion Trupti Murgunde, 21-10, 21-17.

Dec-2010
Saili Rane joined forces with Air India team-mate Sanyogita Ghorpade in the 35th Junior Inter State Inter Zonal Badminton Championship-2010, to win the SHAFI QUERESHI CUP (GIRLS), defeating teams from Assam, AP, and Maharashtra on their way to win the cup.

Dec-2010
Saili Rane was the runner-up in the Girls Singles u-19 event at the 35th Junior National Badminton Championship-2010. She lost to P.V.Sindhu in the finals. Saili Rane was also the Semi-finalist in the girls doubles u-19 event partnering Sanyogita Ghorpade.

Sep-2010
2nd seeded Saili lost in the quarter-finals against Rituparna Das in the 20th Smt.Krishna Khaitan All India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament-2010, GS u-19 event.

Aug-2010
Saili lost to eventual finalist Arundhati Pantawane in the BNDBA All India Senior Major Ranking Badminton Tournament, Bangalore,2010

Jul-2010
Saili was the runner-up at the 10th RSC All India Junior Ranking Tournament, Ernakulam -2010 in the girls singles u-19 event & the winner in the girls doubles event.

Jun-2010
Top seed Saili was knocked out in the first round of the 9th UBI All India Junior Badminton Tournament,Bangalore-2010 by unseeded Nidhi Tiwari 21-14, 21-18

Feb-2010
Saili Rane won the Sushant Chipalkati All India Junior Major Ranking Badminton Tournament,Pune-2010 defeating Tanvi Lad in the finals.

Jan-2010
Saili had lost to Tanvi in the quarter-finals of the All India Junior Major Ranking Badminton Tournament,Nellore-2010.

Karishma Wadkar wins Girls under-16 title

Mumbai girl Karishma Wadkar overcame the challenge of her long-time nemesis, and top seed G. Ruthvika Shivani of Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh in a thrilling encounter to emerge the winner in the Shree Ganga Dham All India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament, held at Haridwar-Feb-2011.

Karishma defeated Ruthvika 15-21 25-23 21-18 to win the Girls Singles Under-16 title.

Karishma had also recently defeated Ruthvika 13-21, 21-15, 24-22 in the finals of the National School Games badminton championships that was held at Balewadi in Pune in Jan-2011, and must have been high on confidence owing to that particular win.

KARISHMA WADKAR'S RECENT PERFORMANCES:

Nov-2010
Karishma was a semi-finalist in the Girls u-16 at the 24th National Sub-junior badminton championships held at Hyderabad in Nov-2010. Ruthvika had defeated Karishma 21-12, 22-20 in the semi-finals.

Sep-2010
Winner of the Sub-Junior Girls Singles title at the Maharashtra Junior Inter-District & State Badminton Championships-2010 held at Latur. Karishma had defeated Revati Devasthale 21-10, 21-9 in the finals.

Sep-2010
Karishma lost 15-21, 5-21 to P.V.Sindhu in the 2nd round of the 20th Smt.Krishna Khaitan All India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament-2010 held at Chandigarh.

Jul-2010
Karishma Wadkar was a Semi-finalist at the 10th RSC All India Junior Ranking Tournament, Ernakulam-2010. She lost to Maneesha K. 15-21 21-12 21-13 in the semi-final match.

Jun-2010
Karishma had a dismal showing at the 9th UBI All India Junior Badminton tournament, Bangalore-2010 where she lost in the first round to Devika Ravindra 16-21 21-11 21-15.

Feb-2010
G.Ruthvika Shivani defeated Karishma 17-21 21-13 21-14 in the second round of the All India Junior Major Ranking Badminton Tournament, Haridwar in 2010.

Jan-2010
D.Sudha Kalyani defeated Karishma Wadkar 21-11 21-17 in the quarter-finals of the Sushant Chipalkati All India Junior Major Ranking Badminton Tournament, held at Pune-2010.

Jan-2010
Rituparna Das beat Karishma Wadkar 21-11 22-24 21-9 at the All India Junior Major Ranking Badminton Tournament, at Nellore in Jan 2010.

Oct-2009
Karishma Wadkar lost the Girls Singles u-13 finals of the 23rd Sub Junior National Badminton Championships-2009 at Jaipur, against G.Ruthvika Shivani. Ruthvika had won the match 21-13 21-16.

(Both Karishma & Ruthvika have now graduated to the Under-16 level, and the on-court rivalry continues between the two of them).

Harsheel Dani wins Boys u-16 title

Harsheel Dani, seeded second, overcame the challenge of third seed Arshalan Naqui 21-18, 21-10 to win the boys singles under-16 title at the Shree Ganga dham All-India junior ranking badminton tournament at Haridwar-2011.

For Harsheel, Haridwar turned out to be a lucky venue once again, as he had also won the Boys Singles under-16 title at the All India Junior Major Ranking tournament that was held earlier at Haridwar in Feb last year.

2010:
Harsheel Dani was earlier a semi-finalist at the 24th Sub-junior National badminton championship held at Hyderabad in Nov-2010.

2009:
Harsheel was defeated by K.P.Chaitanya in the 4th Qualifying round at the 23rd Sub-junior National badminton championship held at Jaipur in Oct-2009.

Junior Ranking tourney at Haridwar - updates

Andhra Pradesh girl Ruthvika Shivani has stormed into as many as 4 finals at the ongoing National Junior Ranking tournament at Haridwar in Uttarakhand.
She will be playing in finals of the Girls Singles, the Girls doubles under-16 and under-19 events as well as in the Mixed doubles under-19 finals.

Here are the tournament updates.

Girls Singles - under-19

Saili Rane & Tanvi Lad will be battling it out in the finals of the girls singles event. In the semin-finals, Saili overcame the challenge of Gauri Ghate 21-19, 22-24, 21-18 in a very close match, whereas Tanvi Lad defeated Riya Pillai 21-19, 21-7.

Boys Singles - under-19

Top seed Sameer Verma & third seeded Rohit Yadav C. will be up against each other in the Boys Singles finals. In the semi-finals, Sameer defeated Srikanth K. 19-21, 21-15, 21-10, while Rohit beat Trinankur Nag 21-9, 21-11.

Girls Singles - under-16

The top seed G. Ruthvika Shivani will play against third seed Karishma Wadkar in the finals of the girls under-16 singles event.
In the semi-finals Ruthvika beat Lalita Katre 21-18, 21-19 while Karishma defeated Sudha Kalyani D. 10-21, 21-17, 21-12

Boys Singles - under-16

Arshalan Naqvi & Harsheel Dani will be contesting in the boys under-16 singles event. Third seeded Arshalan defeated the top seed Aditya Joshi 21-13, 21-17 in the semi-finals, while Harsheel beat 4th seeded Chaitanya K.P. 21-13, 21-6.


Doubles events

Girls Doubles -under-16
Sudha Kalyani D. & G. Ruthvika Shivani will be playing the finals against Anoushka Parikh & Karishma Wadkar. - (Note: Ruthvika & Karishma are also up against each other in the singles finals).

Boys Doubles -under-16
Chaitanya K.P & Talar Laa will be up against Harshit Aggarwal & Gangadhar Rao V. in the finals.

Girls Doubles -under-19
G. Ruthvika Shivani & Poorvisha S.R. will be contesting Saili Rane & Arathi Sara Sunil in the finals.

Boys Doubles -under-19
Srikanth K. & Hemanagendra Babu T. are up against Naresh A. & Venkatesh B. in the final.

Mixed Doubles -under-19
Venkatesh B. & G. Ruthvika Shivani will be playing against Hemanagendra Babu T. & Sudha Kalyani D. in the mixed doubles final match.

 

All India Junior Ranking at Haridwar

Haridwar, the popular pilgrimage destination has this month become a must-be-place for the young shuttlers of the country.
The reason for this is the Shree Ganga Dham All India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament, 2011 that is currently being conducted at Haridwar from 8th to 13th Feb, and which has received participation from as many as 487 young badminton players.

There are a total of 9 badminton events being played, for u-16 & u-19 age groups.

Badminton Events for the Under-16 age group:
BS - Boys singles
GS - Girls singles
BD - Boys doubles
GD - Girls doubles

Badminton Events for the Under-19 age group:
BS - Boys singles
GS - Girls singles
BD - Boys doubles
GD - Girls doubles
XD - Mixed doubles

While Sameer Verma & Saili Rane are the top seeds in the under-19 boys & girls singles, Aditya Joshi & G. Ruthvika Shivani are the top seeds in the under-16 boys & girls singles respectively.

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