Badminton News: Top seeds Sai Praneeth B of Telangana and Aakarshi Kashyap of Chhattisgarh put in great performances to win the men’s and women’s singles gold medals in badminton respectively at the 2022 Indian National Championships.
While former world championship bronze medalist Sai Praneeth had to work hard for a 21-11, 12-21, 21-16 win over Karnataka’s Mithun Manjunath in the men’s singles final, Aakarshi beat the lead from serial Malvika Bansod of Maharashtra 21-8. and 22-20 in the women’s singles ridge clash.
Thirty-something Praneeth’s success earned Telangana three gold medals in badminton. They have already won the mixed doubles and women’s doubles titles.
Sai Praneeth dominated the opener, taking an 8-2 lead and never looking back. However, Mithun came back stronger in the second game but ultimately couldn’t do anything but admit he lost.
“Once the game started to drift away from me, I played it calmly to focus on game three,” Praneeth said.
Mithun kept pace with Praneeth for most of game three, but the experienced Indonesian did enough to overcome the challenges of his young opponent.
“Once I took the lead at 16-15, I played it safe. I saw Mithun was exhausted and just put the wheel in,” said Praneeth, who finished the game with a smash.
Earlier, second seed Aakarshi dominated the opening match of the women’s singles final against the erratic Malvika, who needed time to find her groove.
Top seed Malvika started Game 2 well, opening an 8-4 lead. Aakarshi fought back by keeping the shuttle in play longer and closing the gap to 9-9.
However, Malvika didn’t want to let her guard down and gave up this time. He continued to pressure his opponent and again took an 18-14 lead and at this point it looked like the game could go into the tiebreaker although Aarkashi also didn’t want to lose until succeeds in forcing a setting. Aakarshi appeared calmer at the crucial moment, able to pick up the final two points to secure victory.
Tag Articles: Sai Praneeth, Indian National Championship 2022
Published by Ligaolahraga.com at https://www.ligaolahraga.com/badminton/sai-praneeth-menangi-kejuaraan-nasional-india-2022
