Bhilwara: All four Rajasthan teams – men’s, women’s, U-19 boys and U-19 girls – dominated the inaugural day of the Yonex-Sunrise North Zone Badminton Championship by entering the semifinals here on Wednesday.The host seniors and junior teams secured their place in the last four by registering one-sided victories in the opening rounds. In the first round of the men’s category, Rajasthan blanked Punjab 3-0. Pranay Katta defeated Divyam Sachdeva 15-8, 15-13, Sanskar Saraswat thrashed Ishan Sharma 15-7, 15-8, while the pair of Shubham Patel and Danish Shrivastava got the better of Shyam Prasad and Uday Kumar 15-11, 15-5 to seal Rajasthan’s thumping win.In the women’s quarters, Rajasthan outclassed Jammu & Kashmir 3-0. India’s top junior shuttler Parul Choudhary made the light work of Skydeep Kaur 15-5, 15-9 to provide the home team a strong start.Sneha Lamba edged past Krishna Mahajan 15-13, 15-13 to swell the lead, while the pair of Parul and Kavya Swami steamrolled Skydeep Kaur and Krishna Mahajan 15-10, 15-13 to give Rajasthan a fluent victory.Organising secretary Abhishek Sharma said that in the U-19 boys’ category, Rajasthan thumped Jammu & Kashmir 2-0. Yash Soni won the first singles dismissing Goposh Singh 15-5, 15-11, while Jangjeet Kajla and Yash prevailed over Udayan Sharma and Bhavdeep Singh 15-10, 15-8.
India’s top junior shuttler Parul Choudhary will spearhead Rajasthan Under-19 girls team challenge in the North Zone Inter-State Badminton Championship which begins in Bhilwara on Wednesday
Similarly, Rajasthan girls also notched up a 2-0 win over Chandigarh in the first round. Parul overpowered Riddhima Saini 15-11, 15-7, while the duo of Parul and Kavya Swami crushed Prakriti Kanwar and Riddhima Saini 15-8, 15-4.In other women’s matches, Delhi accounted for Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Punjab upset Chandigarh 3-2, while Delhi beat Himachal Pradesh 3-0 to make it to the last four.In the men’s quarters, Delhi defeated Jammu & Kashmir 3-0, while Chandigarh squeezed past Himachal Pradesh 3-2. Defending champions Haryana advanced to the final four after receiving byes in both categories.Organising committee chairperson Mukesh Khandelwal informed that all the semi-final matches will be played from 9am on Thursday.The chief guest of the opening ceremony was Narendra Mantri of Jindal Saw Ltd. The function was presided over by MLA Ashok Kothari. RCM Group MD Trilok Chhabra, Jindal ITF Ltd. Director Sunil Kumar Tarehan, Jindal Saw Ltd. Licensing Head RC Baser, Sangam India Ltd. Vice chairperson Dr SN Modani were the special guests.Bhilwara Sports Officer Hemendra Singh Ranawat, chief referee Vinay Joshi of Maharashtra, deputy referee Ajindar Rai and Rajasthan Badminton Association general secretary KK Sharma were also present on this occasion.
