Hyderabad: After finishing second-best in the first edition, Daman Raj Kumar and Akanshi Baliyan from Chandigarh upped the ante to emerge champions in the second edition of the Red Bull Shuttle Up, India’s exclusive women’s doubles badminton tournament, which concluded at the Railway Sports Complex in Secunderabad.
In the title round, the winners were made to work hard by Delhi’s Kavya Gandhi, 18 and Rageshri Garg, 19 before they clinched the tie 10-11, 5-11, 11-10 in a closely-fought encounter.
Earlier in the semifinals, the Chandigarh duo got the better of Nikita Ramakrishna and Jagrity Pandey of Bangalore 11-10, 11-6 whereas Kavya and Rageshri prevailed over the Mumbai pair of Saloni Ambawane and Jesmi Sojan 11-6, 11-7.
The national finals were played in a league-cum-knockout format. Two groups of three teams were formed and each team played two games in the group phase. The top two teams from each group qualified for the semifinals.
The tournament aims to further boost and improve participation of aspiring women players.
The Results
Final: Daman Raj Kumar/ Akanshi Baliyan (Chandigarh) bt Kavya Gandhi/ Rageshri Garg (Delhi) 10-11, 5-11, 11-10.
Semifinals: Kavya Gandhi/ Rageshri Garg (Delhi) bt Saloni Ambawane/ Jesmi Sojan (Mumbai) 11-6, 11-7; Daman Raj Kumar/ Akanshi Baliyan (Chandigarh) bt Nikitha Ramakrishna/ Jagrity Pandey (Bangalore) 11-10, 11-6.
