| INDIA JUNIOR CHAMPS - Saina knows her Successor |
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| Tuesday, 10 November 2009 04:07 |
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By Dev; S. Sukumar in Mandya. Andhra Pradesh's Sikki Reddy and Sai Praneeth, both trainees at the Pullela Gopichand Academy, won the singles titles at the Junior National Badminton Championships that concluded on Monday. Sikki retained her title, while Sai Praneeth took home his first. The championships virtually turned out to be Andhra's - with exception to the mixed doubles, they figured in the gold bracket of the other four events. Sikki and Sai Praneeth returned with a double crown -- Sikki partnered PC Thulasi (Kerala) for the girls' doubles title, while Sai Praneeth and Pranav Chopra (Air India) won the boys' doubles. The boys' singles final was expected to be a cracker of a match -- Air India's HS Prannoy has been in excellent form right through, and he had come away a winner from an exacting test in the semifinals, against top seed Sumeeth Reddy. But rather against the grain, Sai Praneeth raced away to an early lead before Prannoy could settle down, disallowing his opponent the chance to get into the match by keeping the points short and avoiding long rallies. Sikki took on state-mate PV Sindhu. Their last exchange had resulted in victory for Sindhu. But Sindhu had some problems at the forecourt, and in recovering position which Sikki cleverly exploited, with her tricky left-handed slices and drops. Sindhu hardly got the opportunity to bring her big smashes in, and the match was over in quick time, 21-17 21-16. Results: Boys' Singles: Sai Praneeth (AP) bt HS Prannoy (Air India) 21-16, 14-21, 21-15 Newer news items:
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