Team Herald
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PANJIM: Goa’s Aarush Pawaskar gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about on Day 7 of the Yonex-Sunrise All India Sub Junior (U-15 & U-17) Ranking Badminton Tournament 2025 at the Multipurpose Stadium, Peddem-Mapusa, on Friday.
The talented youngster fought hard in the Boys Singles U-17 Round of 32, edging out Kerala’s Fikham Hamdal 21-15, 10-21, 21-19 in a tightly contested three-game battle. However, his campaign ended in the pre-quarterfinals where he lost to Badminton Asia bronze medal winner, Jagsher Singh Khangurra of Punjab 11-21, 13-21.
The match of the day belonged to the top seed in Boys U-17, Dev Ruparelia of Maharashtra, who was pushed to the limit by Hardik Divyansh from Karnataka, prevailing to a 21-12, 15-21, 21-15 win to book a spot in the quarter-finals.
In the U-15 Round of 16, the top seeds continued their dominant run. In Boys Singles, Pushkar Sai (1) from Karnataka defeated Jaivardhan Hooda (Haryana) 21-12, 21-14; Wazir Singh (3) from Punjab beat Jayvardhan Singh (Rajasthan) 21-12, 21-18. Among the girls, top seed Shaina Manimuthu (Karnataka) outplayed Shruti Yetchina (Telangana) 21-12, 21-11, while Avni Vikram Govind (3) from Telangana defeated Dhanya Manjunatha (Karnataka) 21-6, 21-8.
The U-15 Boys Doubles saw a big upset, as Jaivardhan Hooda (Haryana) and Harshit Khatri (Delhi) knocked out second seeds Samarth Bhardwaj and Jatin Kumar (Haryana) 21-15, 21-19. In Girls Singles U-17 action, top seed Lakshya Rajesh (Karnataka) overcame Somyaa Bhatnagar (Rajasthan) 16-21, 21-17, 21-6.