Arun saves six match points to reach junior nationals final

Third seed Arun George of Kerala saved six match points before upsetting top seed and defending champion Harsheel Dani of Air India to reach the u-19 singles final in the 38^th Junior National Badminton championship in Chandigarh on Wednesday.

Arun, who had staged a similar comeback in the pre-quarterfinals on Tuesday, made the most of the next exchanges in the business end of the match to win the 48 minute encounter 17-21, 21-16, 25-23.

Till that come back, Arun looked out of sorts after taking a medical break while trailing 15-19 in the decider but showed the tenacity and presence of mind to hang in and force his opponent to play a pattern that benefited him in the final analysis.

He first saved four straight match points to level the score at 20-all and then wasted one match point himself at 23-22 before Dani pushed his net lift out to trigger a wild celebration from the player and his coaching staff.

Arun will now face second seed and Shushant Chippalkati junior international champion Aditya Joshi of Air India who rallied from a disastrous first game to beat fourth seed Arsalan Naqvi of 11-21, 21-12, 21-16.

In the girls section, defending junior national champion Ruthvika Shivani stayed on course for a double crown after reaching the u-17 and u-19 finals. In the u-17 semifinal, the Gopichand Academy trainee ended the dream run of Maharashtra qualifier Mrunmayi Saoji 21-7, 21-13 and then came back to defeat second seed Reshma Karthik of Karnataka 21-9, 21-13

Ruthvika will now face top seed Karishma Wadkar of Maharashtra in the u-17 final. Wadkar, who trains in the Shuttlecraze badminton academy, staved off a late comeback from Karnataka’s Shikha Gautam 21-11, 22-20 to reach her maiden national final.

The u-19 girls will see Ruthvika taking on Rituparna Das, who defeated Maharashtra’s Rasika Raje 21-12, 21-13.

Results:

BS U17

Quarter Finals: Daniel Farid S. (1), KTK, beat Siril Varma A. S. S. (5), AP, 21-9 21-17; Kanishq M. (6), AP, beat Talar Laa (4), ANP, 21-15 21-15; Chirag Sen (3), AI, beat Chirag Shetty (7), MAH, 21-10 21-18; Sankeerth B. R. (9), KTK, beat Ansal Yadav (8), UP, 21-5 21-23 21-14 .

Semi Finals

Daniel Farid S. (1), KTK, beat Kanishq M. (6), AP, 21-19 18-21 21-18; Sankeerth B. R. (9), KTK, beat Chirag Sen (3), AI, 14-21 21-15 21-12 .

GS U17

Quarter Finals

Karishma Wadkar (1), MAH, beat Vrushali G. (10), AP, 21-19 19-21 21-15; Shikha Gautam (8), KTK, beat Ashmita Chaliha (14), ASM, 21-16 21-16; Mrunmayi Saoji, MAH, beat Mahima Aggarwal (9), KTK, 17-21 21-15 23-21; Ruthvika Shivani G. (2), AP, beat Kanika Kanwal (6), DLI, 21-15 21-14.

Semi Finals

Karishma Wadkar (1), MAH, beat Shikha Gautam (8), KTK, 21-11 22-20; Ruthvika Shivani G. (2), AP, beat Mrunmayi Saoji, MAH, 21-7 21-13.

BS U19

Quarter Finals

Harsheel Dani (1), AI, beat Kaushal Dharmamer (5), MAH, 21-16 21-12; Arun George (3), KER, beat Talar Laa (10), ANP, 21-16 21-18; Arshalan Naqvi (4), UP, beat Shyam Prasad (11), KER, 21-19 21-15; Aditya Joshi (2), AI, beat Rahul Yadav C., AP, 22-20 14-21 21-14 .

Semi Finals

Arun George (3), KER, beat Harsheel Dani (1), AI, 17-21 21-16 25-23; Aditya Joshi (2), AI beat Arshalan Naqvi (4), UP 11-21, 21-12, 21-16

GS U19

Quarter Finals

Rituparna Das (1), AP, beat Karishma Wadkar (11), MAH, 21-13 21-9; Rasika Raje (4), MAH, beat Shriyanshi Pardeshi (5), AI, 21-17 23-21; Ruthvika Shivani G. (3), AP, beat Kanika Kanwal, DLI, 21-14 21-12; Reshma Karthik (2), AI, beat Sara Naqvi (8), UP, 21-13 21-12

Semi Finals

Rituparna Das (1), AP, beat Rasika Raje (4), MAH, 21-12, 21-13; Ruthvika Shivani G. (3), AP, beat Reshma Karthik (2), AI, 21-9, 21-13

BD U19

Quarter Finals

Shlok Ramchandran and Sanyam Shukla (1), AI, beat Arun George, KER, and Aditya Joshi (6), AI, 21-16 21-17; Rohan Kapoor, DLI, and Saurabh Sharma, HAR, beat Chaitanya K. P. and Gangadhara Rao V. (4), AP, 18-21 21-14 23-21; Arjun M. R., KER, and Chirag Shetty (5), MAH, beat Kawaldeep Singh and Rupinder Singh (3), CHG, 15-21 21-16 21-13; Sanidhya Bandoont and Vinay Kumar Singh, UP, beat Naveen M. and Vembarasan V.  (8), TN, 21-13 21-16

GD U19

Quarter Finals

Sruthi K. P.  and Farha Mather (1), KER, beat Pooja D. and Sonika Sai P. , AP, 21-19 21-15; Rituparna Das and Meghana J.  (3), AP, beat Ahillya Harjani and Rasika Raje (6), MAH, 21-11 21-19; Vaishnavi Iyer, MAH, and Reshma Karthik (4), AI, beat Sanchali Dasgupta and Pragya Rai, UP, 21-6 20-22 21-16; Revati Devasthale and Karishma Wadkar, MAH, beat Sudha Kalyani D. and Archana M.  (2), AP, 17-21 21-18 27-25.

XD U19

Semi Finals

Sanyam Shukla, AI, and Meghana J. (1), AP, beat Chandrabhushan Tripathi, UP, and Anushka Kuvelkar, GOA, 21-5 21-16; Sankeerth B. R. and Mira Mahadevan, KTK, beat Kabir Kanzarkar and Ahillya Harjani, MAH, 19-21 21-17 21-14.