Aarya-Yukti move up, Sairaj, Fizza bow out

Nagpur, July 2

It was a mixed day for Nagpur shuttlers at the Yonex-Sunrise All India Sub Junior Under-13 Ranking Badminton tournament being played at the Shivalik School, Mohali, Punjab on Saturday.

City’s pair Aarya Bhujade and Yukti Shende rallied back to defeat Karnataka’s Sri Sloka Katam Reddy and Chetana Santosh 19-21, 21-19, 21-19 to enter the second round.

City’s promising shuttlers Sairaj Nayse and Fizza Akbani went down in the second round in their respective singles events.

Sairaj rallied back to oust Udayan Deshmukh of Maharashtra 18-21, 21-12, 23-21 in the U-13 boys singles first round in the main draw. Sairaj, a student of Narayana Vidyalayam, took 48 minutes to post a thrilling win in the morning session.

Sairaj was trailing 13-19 in the deciding game but bounced back gallantly to clinch the decider 23-21. Sairaj saved one match point and converted his third match point to register a brilliant victory.

However in the afternoon session, Sairaj lost to Karnataka’s Karansh Naidu 12-21, 9-21 in 30 minutes.

Similarly Fizza Akbani also bowed out in the second round. Fizza defeated Jyoshika Enjam 21-4, 21-5 in the first round but lost against Laksha ND 21-16, 16-21, 15-21 in the second round.

In the U-13 girls doubles, Lakshmi Sai Aaradhya and Shruti Yetchina edged out Fizza and Darshita Rajguru 21-13, 18-21, 18-21 in the first round.