Kuhoo Garg wins mixed doubles in badminton tourney
February 19, 2018
Dehradun: The all-India senior ranking championship that started from February 13 in Dehradun concluded on Sunday with final matches in five categories. Uttarakhand shuttler Kuhoo Garg along with her partner won the mixed doubles and was the runner up in the women’s doubles.
Another player from Uttarakhand, Bodhit Joshi also won bronze in the men’s single. Close to 1,500 players from across the country had participated in the 5-day tourney. This was the second time that Dehradun was hosting this tournament.
Ashok Kumar, president of Uttarakhand Badminton said, “This tournament is very important for all players who are looking to improve their national ranking as the points gained during this gets accumulated which form the basis for rankings. Shuttlers from Uttarakhand have also done quite well though Lakshya Sen could not participate in the tourney due to injury.”
The other winners were Mithun M who won the men’s singles while Anura Prabhudesai won gold in women’s singles. Aparna Balan and Sruthi K won women’s doubles while the men’s doubles winners were Arun George and Sanyam Shukla.
Kumar added that besides the rankings, the players also get to know the techniques of other national and international players. “The competition after the pre-quarter matches gets quite tough and interestingly in this tournament, the younger players actually performed better than the senior ones. The sport is changing rapidly in terms of players,” he said.
Chief secretary Utpal Kumar who was the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the tourney, congratulating the winners, said, “All the players have done their best and it is a moment of pride that we had the opportunity to host this tourney for the second time. Seeing the potential of the shuttlers from Uttarakhand, I am confident that they will perform very well in the Olympics 2020.
