Badminton player Vibhuti comes of age

Fifteen-year-old Vibhuti Agarwal from Mumbai sprung a surprise by qualifying for the main draw in the women’s singles category of the NSCI All-India senior ranking badminton tournament on Sunday.

Agarwal, who is a standard X student of the Ryan International school in Malad, defeated Niharika Saini 21-15 21-18. Apart from Agarwal, the other qualifier from Maharashtra was Rucha Nikam, who came back from a game down to defeat Uttarakhand’s Swati Sharma 18-21 24-22 21-18.

Two other competitors from the state, however, failed to make it to the main draw. Radhika Shah lost to Poornima C of Andhra Pradesh 21-11 21-15 and Kusum Yadav was defeated 21-5 21-4 by Nischita GM of Karnataka.

The other shuttlers who have made it to the main draw are Sneha Santhilal (Kerala), Sara Naqvi (Uttar Pradesh), Samitha JV (Andhra Pradesh), Nischita GM (Karnataka), Swati Joon (Haryana).

In the men’s category, no player from the state could make it to the main draw from qualifiers, as Firij Mulani lost to Venkat Gaurav of Railways 21-6 21-8. The shuttlers who made it to the men’s main draw are Himanshu Kharbanda (Delhi), Ratikanta Saha (West Bengal), Ajay Kumar K (Andhra Pradesh), Vijaykumar Reddy (AP), Rohan Castellino (Karnataka), Abhishek Yelligar (Karnataka), Rohit Yadav (AP), Shreyansh Jaiswal (Chandigarh).

In the men’s doubles, Sagar Chopda and Eshan Naqvi of Maharashtra proved too good for statemates Nigel D’Sa and Ameya Joshi, winning 21-6 21-8.