Badminton Asia Championships
Chengdu (CHINA), Oct 26: India recorded its best-ever showing at the Badminton Asia U-17 & U-15 Championships as Shaina Manimuthu and Diksha Sudhakar clinched gold medals in their respective categories here on Sunday.
In the U-15 girls’ singles final, Shaina overcame Japan’s Chiharu Tomita 21-14, 22-20, while Diksha outclassed compatriot Lakshya Rajesh 21-16, 21-9 to take the U-17 girls’ singles crown.
With Sunday’s triumphs, the Indian contingent wrapped up the continental event with two gold, one silver and two bronze medals – its best-ever haul at the championships The last time India secured two gold medals was in 2013 when Siril Verma won the U-15 boys’ singles title and Chirag Shetty and MR Arjun claimed the U-17 boys’ doubles crown.
On Sunday, Shaina became the fourth Indian girls singles player to clinch the U-15 crown as she dominated Tomita in the opening game and then staved off a late challenge in the second game to close out the match in 44 minutes.
Later, Diksha became the first Indian girls singles player to win the U-17 title, dominating the 27-minute all-Indian final.
Jagsher Singh Khanggura and mixed doubles combination of Jangjeet Singh Kajla and Jananika Ramesh had bagged bronze on Saturday. (PTI)
