Asian Youth Championship: Varma, Arjun/Shetty win gold

Indian contingent with Siril Varma, M R Arjun and Chirag Shetty

Indian shuttlers crowned the country’s best ever performance in the Asian Youth (u-15 & u-17) badminton championship with two gold medals in the 2013 edition of the championship in Kudus, Indonesia, on Sunday.

Fourteen-year-old Siril Varma began the Indian march with a 21-11, 21-17 victory over local favourite Putra Gatja in the boys u-15 singles final before the top seeded boy’s u-17 doubles combination of MR Arjun and Chirag Shetty defeated Thai combination of Mak Narongrit and Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-16, 21-15 to clinch the title.

The two titles took India’s medals tally to two gold and two bronze in the championship. Bangalore’s Daniel Farid (boys u-17 singles) and Krishna Prasad/Shreya Bose (u-15 mixed doubles) had to settle for a bronze medal after losing their respective semifinals on Saturday.

Last year, India had managed to win two bronze medals in China in boy’s u-15 singles and doubles events.

The last time India had won a gold in this competition was when Prajakta Sawant and Raj Kumar won the mixed doubles gold in the 2007 Asian meet in Hanoi, Vietnam. In 2007, the tournament was called the Asian Sub Junior championship with only the U-16 category to compete.

World championship bronze medallist P V Sindhu had bagged the u-19 girls singles title in the Asian Junior championship last year.

Results:

U-15 boys singles: Siril Varma bt Putra Gatja (Ina) 21-11, 21-17

U-17 boys doubles: 1-M R Arjun/Chirag Shetty bt Kantaphon Wangcharoen/Mak Narongrit (Tha) 21-16, 21-15