Laa Talar of Arunachal Pradesh asserted his all-round game and sound temperament as he beat Ansal Yadav of Uttar Pradesh 21-18, 21-16 in the under-15 boys' final of the National sub-junior badminton championship at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.
It was the maiden National singles title for the lad from Itanagar, who had earlier won the under-16 boys' doubles title in the National championship.
The tenth standard student, who trains at the Prakash Padukone Academy in Bangalore, was understandably proud to win the title in front of his guru Padukone, as the former All England champion was present as the chief guest and to inspire the kids.
Incidentally, it was the third title on the trot for Laa Talar as he had won two National ranking tournaments recently, including one at the expense of Ansal Yadav, who had stretched him to three games.
The wiry left-hander Ansal had an equally attractive game with a stinging smash to boot, but was quite erratic.
The under-15 girls' title was captured by top-seed Ruthvika Shivani from Andhra Pradesh, as she stopped G. Vrushali 21-19, 21-15.
Another talented player who regularly visits the Prakash Padukone Academy for training from Khammam, Ruthvika tilted the balance in her favour from 19-19 in the first game with a crisp backhand smash, and raced away beyond the reach of her opponent.
The results (finals) : Boys: Under-15 : Laa Talar bt Ansal Yadav 21-18, 21-16; Doubles : Rahul Yadav and Chirag Sen bt M. R. Arjun and Chirag Shetty 21-16, 21-19.
Under-13 : A. S. S. Siril Varma bt Lakshya Sen 21-17, 21-14; Doubles : Rajshekhar Das and Pragyan Jyoti Gooi bt Sai Dinesh Reddy and Shourya Singh 21-11, 24-22.
Girls: Under-15 : Ruthvika Shivani bt G. Vrushali 21-19, 21-15; Doubles : Ruthvika Shivani and Sanjana Santosh bt Lalita Katra and Karishma Wadkar 21-11, 22-20.
Under-13 : Kanika Kanwal bt Ashwini Bhat 21-12, 21-16; Doubles : Kanika Kanwal and Ashwini Bhat bt Apeksha Nayak and Archana Pai 21-9, 21-16.
