Rohan Gurbani subdued a tenacious Shubham Patel in the final to secure the U-17 boys’ singles title at the Yonex-Sunrise Sub-Junior National badminton championships here on Sunday.
The top seed sailed through the first game but faced stiff resistance in the second before eventually winning 21-12, 27-25 at the KBA courts.
Fifth seed Aditi Bhatt halted local girl Janani Ananthakumar’s dream run with a largely straightforward victory in the U-17 girls’ final while Sai Vishnu Pullela clinched his maiden National singles title, emerging the U-15 boys’ champion.
Feeling jittery
Rohan admitted afterwards that he was nervous towards the end of the second game. He struggled with his judgement in leaving shuttles as Shubham, who had seen off the second seed in the semifinals, clawed his way back.
“He was very deceptive and unpredictable,” Rohan, who trains at the PPBA, said later. “He is mainly a doubles player so I was trying to avoid flat shots and play high ones and make him run around.”
Rohan, incidentally, is Vidarbha and India-A bowler Rajneesh Gurbani’s cousin. The latter even came to watch him during an all-India ranking tournament in Nagpur earlier this year, Rohan revealed.
Aditi, meanwhile, silenced a vociferous crowd with her 21-14, 21-18 triumph over Janani. Only two months ago, the Almora girl had gone as far as the semifinals at the Asian Junior Championships in Myanmar; she was clearly a class above her rival.
Aditi briefly stuttered in the second game, when from 17-10 she slipped to 17-16, but that was just a blip. Janani was gracious in her appreciation of her opponent later. “She was just hitting everything. She is such a beautiful rally player; I can learn a lot from her. She was out of my reach,” she said.
Earlier, Sai Vishnu — P. Gopichand’s son — overcame Sai Satya Sarvesh Yakala 21-14, 21-19 in the U-15 final.
The Telangana coach, Rajendra Kumar, was full of praise for the 14-year-old’s display. “He controlled the match. He played the half-smashes very well,” he said.
The results (all finals): Boys: U-17: Rohan Gurbani (Mah) bt Shubham Patel (Raj) 21-12, 27-25. Doubles: Gireesh Nayudu (AP) & Sankarprasad Udayakumar (Ker) bt Ayush Pattnayak (Odi) & Venkata Harsha Vardhan (AP) 21-17, 25-23.
U-15: Sai Vishnu Pullela (Tel) bt Sai Satya Sarvesh Yakala (Py) 21-14, 21-19. Doubles: Shivam Mehta & Pranav Sharma (Utk) bt Sataksh Singh (Del) & Sai Satya Sarvesh Yakala (Pud) 23-21, 21-19.
Girls: U-17: Aditi Bhatt (Utk) bt Janani Ananthakumar (Kar) 21-14, 21-18. Doubles: Treesa Jolly & Mehreen Riza (Ker) bt A. Abhilasha & K. Bhargavi (TS) 21-8, 21-14.
U-15: Tasnim Mir (Guj) bt Sakshi Phogat (Raj) 21-14, 21-12. Doubles: Hrissha Dube (Mah) & Ishani Waldia (Del) bt Gayathri Rani Jaiswal & Karnika Sree (Kar) 21-14, 21-17.
Mixed doubles:U-17: Edwin Joy (Ker) & V.S. Varshini (TN) bt Manav Raj Sumith & Treesa Jolly (Ker) 23-21, 21-19 .
