National Games: Sai Praneeth, Aakarshi Kashyap clinch badminton men’s and women’s singles gold medals

Sai Praneeth beat Mithun Manjunath 21-11, 12-21, 21-16, while Aakarshi Kashyap clinched the gold medal with a straight games win over Malvika Bansod.

FILE PHOTO: B. Sai Praneeth, bronze medal winner in the recent BWF World Championships, displays his medal at Pullela Gopichand Academy on August 27, 2019. | Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal

Top seed B Sai Praneeth of Telangana and second seed Aakarshi Kashyap of Chhattisgarh emerged champions in the badminton men's and women's singles finals in the 36th National Games at PDDU Indoor stadium here on Thursday.

Praneeth had to toil hard for his gold medal. After the Telangana shuttler won the first game, Karnataka's Mithun Manjunath made a comeback, pushing the match into the third game. Praneeth, however, held his nerves and won the match 21-11, 12-21, 21-16.

It was, meanwhile, Telangana's third gold medal in badminton at the National Games.

In women's singles, Aakarshi sent top-seed Malvika Bansod of Maharashtra packing with a thumping 21-8, 22-20 victory to claim her maiden Games gold.

In women's doubles, The Telangana duo of N. Sikki Reddy and Gayatri Gopichand clinched the gold medal, beating national champions Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam of Karnataka 21-14, 21-11.

Kerala's P. S. Ravikrishna and Sankarprasad Udaykumar took the men's doubles gold, with a straight games win over Hariharan Amsakarunan and R Ruban Kumar.

Ashwini Ponnappa and K Sai Prateek of Karnataka started their journey as a mixed doubles pair with a comfortable 21-16, 21-13 win over Rohan Kapoor and Kanika Kanwal of Delhi to win the gold medal.

The Results:

Women’s Singles: Aakarshi Kashyap (Chhattisgarh) bt Malvika Bansod (Maharashtra) 21-8, 22-20

Women’s Doubles: N Sikki Reddy/Gayatri Gopichand (Telangana) bt Shikha Gautam/Ashiwini Bhat (Karnataka) 21-14, 21-11

Men’s Singles: B Sai Praneeth(TS) bt Mithun M. (KTK) 21-11, 12-21, 21-16

Men’s Doubles: Ravikrishna P.S./Sankarprasad Udayakumar(KER) bt Hariharan Amsakarunan/Ruban Kumar(TN) 21-19, 21-19

Mixed Doubles: Sai Pratheek/Ashwini Ponnappa (Karnataka) bt Rohan Kapoor/Kanika Kanwal (Delhi) 21-15, 21-13