Team Herald
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PANJIM: Goa’s Arjun Rehani produced a sensational run to reach the men’s singles final of the Yonex Sunrise Inter-State Badminton Championships, stunning top seed Varun Kapur of Maharashtra 21-19, 21-18 in the quarter-finals, played at the Indoor Stadium, Campal. He carried that form into the semis, dismantling Gujarat’s Tushar Sharma 21-10, 21-14 to book his spot in the championship clash against Adheep Gupta of Gujarat.
Another Goan, Arjun Bhagat, excelled in the boys’ U-19 section, winning a dramatic three-game quarter-final against Maharashtra’s Arjun Reddy 23-21, 18-21, 21-16 before bowing out in the semis to Vaibhav Singh of Chhattisgarh 16-21, 21-19, 15-21 in a thriller. The finals will be played on Saturday from 9 am onwards.
In other semi-final results, Gujarat’s Aishani Tiwari edged Maharashtra’s Saad Dharmadhikari 21-19, 22-20 in women’s singles, while Karva Marvaniya advanced after Purva Barve retired. In men’s doubles, Maharashtra’s Arya and Dhruv Thakore beat Madhya Pradesh’s Piyush Bobade and Yash Raikwar 21-8, 10-4 (retired).
Maharashtra pair Anagha Karandikar and Siya Singh defeated Goa’s Synnnovia D’Souza and Yasmin Sayed 21-10, 21-12 in women’s doubles, while Aishwarya Mehta and Priyanka Pant (Madhya Pradesh) overcame Gujarat’s Shenan Christian and Yuti Gajjar 10-21, 21-18, 21-18.
Top seed Dev Kumavat (Madhya Pradesh) rallied past Maharashtra’s Rutva Sajwan 19-21, 21-17, 21-16 in boys’ U-19 singles, while Singh beat Bhagat. In Girls’ U-19, Gujarat’s Kavya Marvaniya shocked top seed Yutika Chavan of Maharashtra 21-14, 21-15, with Anushka Shapurkar (Madhya Pradesh) ousting Aneeri Kotak (Gujarat) 21-14, 21-17.
Chhattisgarh’s Divyansh Agarwal and Saurav Sahu cruised past Gujarat’s Mohammed Ali Mir and Prince Mishra 21-10, 21-6 in Boys’ U-19 doubles, while Maharashtra’s Arjun and Aryan Birajdar edged Madhya Pradesh’s Angat Muchhal and Dev Kumavat 21-10, 18-21, 21-17. In girls’ U-19 doubles, Maharashtra’s Shravani Walekar and Taarini Suri defeated Astha Sharma and Krati Tiwari (Madhya Pradesh) 21-12, 21-13, while Chhattisgarh’s Rashi Mall and Shweta Pardeshi overcame Gujarat’s Archi Ghetia and Swara Raigandhi 21-13, 21-19.