Arshalan in two semi-finals

Arshalan Naqvi of Uttar Pradesh made the semi-finals of both, the boy’s under-17 and under-16 singles categories in the Rs 10 lakhs prize-money 2nd Gautam Thakkar Memorial All India Junior Masters Prize Money Badminton Tournament, played at the Bombay Gymkhana, on Friday.

In the under-17 quarter-finals, Arshalan, the top seed recovered from the loss of the first game to hand Sipani Sahil Naqvi a 23-25, 21-17, 21-12 defeat.

Later, Arshalan seeded seventh in the under-19 event overcame sixth seed Talar Laa of Air India in straight games at 21-16, 22-20.

In the under-17 quarters, Naqvi found the going tough initially as Sahil counter-attacked aggressively and engaged the number one seed in long rallies. But, Naqvi seemed unfazed even after dropping the first game. Instead he raised the level of his game and started to call the shots before closing out the match to book his place in the semi-finals.

Talar Laa of Air India quelled the challenge from Andhra Pradesh’s Chaityana K.P. 21-17, 21-19 in the other boys’ under-17 quarter-final match.

Maharashtra’s third seed Kaushal Dharmamer and second seed Daniel Farid S. of Karnataka also progressed to the semi-finals. Dharmamer romped to a straight games 21-18, 21-9 win over Harshit Agarwal of Karnataka, while Farid traded the opening two games with Sumit Sharma of Punjab, before the latter after trailing 16-21, 21-9, 13-6 conceded the match due to an ankle injury.

Results (quarterfinals)

Boys’ under-17 singles: Talar Laa (AI) bt Chaitanya K.P. 21-17, 21-19; Kaushal Dharmamer (Mah) bt Harshit Agarwal (Ktk) 21-18, 21-9; Arshalan Naqvi (UP) bt Sipani Sahil (Ktk) 23-25, 21-17, 21-12, Daniel Farid S. (Ktk) bt Sumit Sharma (Pjb) 16-21, 21-18, 13-6 (retired).

Boys’ under-19 singles: Rohit Yadav (AP) bt Harsheel Dani (AI) 21-16, 21-18; Shreyansh Jaiswal (CG) bt Aditya Joshi 15-21, 21-9, 21-16; Shlok Ramchandran (Mah) bt Hemangendra Babu T. (AP) 22-20, 21-18, Arshalan Naqvi (UP) bt Talar Laa (AI) 21-16, 22-20.

Girls’ under-17 singles: Vrushali G. (AP) bt Vibhuti Agarwal (Mah) 21-13, 21-10; Anoushka Parikh (Guj) bt Anokhi Haria 21-12, 21-16,Sudha Kalyani (AP) bt Pooja M. (AP) 21-15, 23-21, Malvika J.K. (Ker) bt Revati Devasthale (Mah) 24-22, 21-11.

Courtesy Gordon D'Costa