Date:01/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/01/stories/2008060156631800.htm

Sport - Badminton

Double for Darshini

Coimbatore: S. Darshini of Virudhunagar dashed the hopes of local girl and top seed S. Archana 21-14, 21-19 to clinch the under-19 girls’ singles title in the Aircel-Tamil Nadu State-ranking junior badminton tournament at the Officers Club courts here on Saturday.

A completely refreshed and improved Darshini was in full control right through. She put enormous pressure on the top seed by attacking from both the front and rear courts. She even bewildered her opponent with a wide range of shots. The experienced Archana fought hard but found Darshini too hot to handle at the end.

Later, Darshini teamed up well with K. Suneri of Chennai to defeat Archana and Kanti Visalakshi 21-17, 21-14 for the under-19 doubles title.

The results (finals):

Singles: Boys: U-13: Karan Rajan (Chn) bt Vishal Upendra (Chn) 21-18, 21-9.

U-16: A.K. Sudarshan (Vrd) bt C. Ashwin (Slm) 21-12, 21-10.

U-19: M.R. Manikandan (Chn) bt U.V. Sathya Narayana Rao (Chn) 21-10, 21-10.

Girls: U-13: M. Roshini (Chn) bt Rashmi Babu (Cbe) 21-15, 21-13.

U-16: Kanti Visalakshi (Chn) bt V.K. Raja Priya (Vrd) 21-9, 21-14. U-19: S. Darshini (Vrd) bt S. Archana (Cbe) 21-14, 21-19.

Doubles: Boys: U-16: Dharani Vasudevan (Cbe) & Surya Prakash bt R. Siddarth & Mohanakrishnan 21-13, 21-19.

Girls: U-13: Aditi Anand & M. Roshini (Chn) bt Sneha S. Kamath & Afrin Fathima 21-12, 21-12.

U-16: Merlyn Rachel & P.L. Swarnam bt Gokula Lakshmi & Sangavi 21-4, 4-21, 21-7. U-19: S. Darshini & K. Suneri bt S. Archana & Kanti Visalakshi 21-17, 21-14.

Mixed doubles: Md. Zameer & Archana Devi (Vlr) bt S.C. Adithya & K. Vidhya (Cbe) 21-15, 21-17. — Sports Reporter