Bhilwara: Three talented shuttlers from Rajasthan have kept their title hopes alive in the individual events of the North Zone Inter-State Badminton Championship here on Saturday.Jaipur teenager Sneha Lamba stormed into the final in the U-19 girls’ singles, while mixed doubles pair of Bhanu Pratap Singh Chauhan and Kavya Swami also sailed in the summit clash.Sneha thumped Chandigarh’s Riddhima Saini 15-5, 15-11 in the quarters and then staked her claim for the gold medal by defeating Delhi’s Aratrika Malika in straight games 15-8, 15-10.On the other hand, in the U-19 mixed doubles semis, Bhanu Pratap and Kavya outclassed Himachal Pradesh’s Shivansh Rana and Garima Verma in straight games 15-12, 15-5.
Sneha Lamba in action during the Under-19 girls singles semifinal in Bhilwara on Saturday
In the U-19 boys’ doubles category, Bhanupratap and Jaivardhan Singh of Rajasthan were unlucky to be eliminated. Parth Gawri and Sparsh Sood of Haryana edged past Bhanupratap and Jaivardhan Singh 15-10, 16-18 and 18-16. The pair of Shubham Patel and Dennis Srivastava of Rajasthan was also eliminated.Aryan and Shyamprasad Udaykumar of Punjab defeated the host pair 17-19, 15-10, 15-12. The men’s singles final will be played between Jagsher Singh of Punjab and Madhur Dhingra of Delhi. Jagsher Singh defeated Shivansh of Himachal Pradesh 15-13, 15-9, Madhur Devang defeated Devansh Rana of Himachal Pradesh 7-15, 15-11, 16-14.Earlier, in the girls’ under-19 doubles, Sheryl Chaudhary and Kavya Swami defeated Chandigarh’s Prakriti Kanwar and Riddhima Saini 15-13, 15-9, while in the boys’ doubles, the pair of Bhanu Pratap and Jaivardhan Singh defeated Himachal Pradesh’s Priyansh Bhardwaj and Varun Raghuvanshi 15-7, 15-12 to enter the semi-finals.According to organising secretary Abhishek Sharma, all finals will be played from 9 am onwards on Sunday. The chief guest at the closing ceremony will be Rampal Soni, chairperson and founder of Sangram Group. The concluding ceremony will be presided over by Dr Dharmendra Gupta, president and unit head of Jindal Sal Ltd. KK Sharma, joint secretary of the Badminton Association of India and general secretary of the Rajasthan Badminton Association, JP Bhatt of the selection committee, and member Zakir Hussain will be the guests of honour.
