Gayatri, daughter of Pullela Gopichand, wins two titles at Senior Ranking badminton tournament

Gayatri Gopichand had double delight at the Yonex-Sunrise All India Senior Ranking tournament, finishing with two titles. Gayatri, daughter of national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, announced her arrival in the senior category with a title in women's singles as well as women's doubles. 

In women's singles, the 16-year-old Gayatri, who was seeded 13th, needed just 37 minutes to see off Tanvi Lad 21-19 21-16 to lay her hands on her first Senior Ranking Tournament trophy. She later teamed up with Rutaparna Panda and defeated the fourth seeds and reigning national champions Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat K, 19-21 21-14 21-10.

In men's singles, sixth seed Lakshya Sen defeated second seed Rahul Yadav Chittaboina to take the title. The 17-year-old Sen, who reached the China Masters final in March, was put to a stern test by Chittaboina, who edged the Prakash Padukone protege 25-23 in the first game in an absorbing men's singles final that lasted 61 minutes.

The 2018 Asian junior champion found his rhythm midway through the match to take the next two games on his way to a 23-25 21-14 21-13 victory, which gave him his first title of the year.

There was no stopping the men's doubles top seeds Krishna Prasad Garaga and Dhruv Kapila who did not drop a game to record a 23-21 21-17 win over seventh seeds Sri Krishna Sai Kumar Podile and Gouse Shaik. They had won a gold medal at the Senior Ranking Tournament in Vijayawada earlier.

Shaik, however, amended for his mistakes in the mixed doubles category. The seventh-seeded pair of Shaik and Mayuri Yadav fought for 50 minutes to register a thrilling 21-19 13-21 21-12 win over Krishna Prasad and Ashwini Bhat. 

Results (All finals)

Men's Singles: Lakshya Sen (Utr) bt C. Rahul Yadav (TS) 23-25, 21-15, 21-13.

Men's Doubles: G. Krishna Prasad (AP) & Dhruv Kapila (AI) bt P. Srikrishna Sai Kumar (TS) & Gouse Shaik (AP) 23-21, 21-17.

Women's Singles: P. Gayatri Gopichand (TS) bt Tanvi Lad (Pet) 21-19, 21-16.

Womens Doubles: Rutuparna Panda (Odi) & P. Gayatri Gopichand (TS) bt Shikha Gautam (AI) & K. Ashwini Bhat (Ktk) 19-21, 21-14, 21-10.

Mixed doubles: Gouse Shaik (AP) & Mayuri Yadav (UP) bt Krishna Prasad & K. Ashwini Bhat (Ktk) 21-19, 13-21, 21-12.

(With PTI Inputs)