Badminton: Lakshya Sen, Gayatri Gopichand emerge champions

In the All India senior ranking badminton tournament held at the Gopichand academy, sixth-seed Lakshya Sen and 13th-seed P. Gayatri Gopichand won the men's and women's singles titles respectively.

Lakshya Sen defeated second-seed Rahul Yadav in the men's final and Gayatri Gopichand beat the more experienced Tanvi Lad in the women's final.

Lakshya Sen of Uttaranchal and P. Gayatri Gopichand of Telangana won the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively in the All India senior ranking badminton tournament at Gopichand Academy here on Sunday.

In the men’s final, sixth-seed Lakshya Sen downed a fighting, second-seed C. Rahul Yadav of Telangana with a 23-25, 21-14, 21-13 win, while 13th-seed Gayatri shocked the more experienced Tanvi Lad of Petroleum with a 21-19, 21-16 win.

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Later, Gayatri completed a creditable ‘double’, partnering Rutuparna Panda of Odisha to down Shikha Gautam (Air India) and K. Ashwini Bhat (Karnataka) 19-21, 21-14, 21-10 in the women’s doubles final.

In men’s doubles final, G. Krishna Prasad (Andhra Pradesh) and Dhruv Kapila (Air India) surprised seventh-seeded P. Srikrishna Sai Kumar (Telangana) and Gouse Shaik (Andhra Pradesh) with a 23-21, 21-17.

Mr. Shekhar Bajaj, CMD of Bajaj Electricals Ltd, and Mr P. Gopichand, chief national coach, gave away the prizes.

The results (All finals)

Men's Singles: Lakshya Sen (Utr) bt C. Rahul Yadav (TS) 23-25, 21-15, 21-13.

Men's Doubles: G. Krishna Prasad (AP) & Dhruv Kapila (AI) bt P. Srikrishna Sai Kumar (TS) & Gouse Shaik (AP) 23-21, 21-17.

Women's Singles: P. Gayatri Gopichand (TS) bt Tanvi Lad (Pet) 21-19, 21-16.

Womens Doubles: Rutuparna Panda (Odi) & P. Gayatri Gopichand (TS) bt Shikha Gautam (AI) & K. Ashwini Bhat (Ktk) 19-21, 21-14, 21-10.

Mixed doubles: Gouse Shaik (AP) & Mayuri Yadav (UP) bt Krishna Prasad & K. Ashwini Bhat (Ktk) 21-19, 13-21, 21-12.