Hyderabad shuttler Jakka Vaishnavi Reddy put her bitter battle with the Badminton Association of India (BAI) behind to win the Women’s Under-19 singles title at the Yonex Belgian Junior championship that concluded at Herstal in Belgium on Sunday.
Denied a singles spot in the Indian team at next month’s World Junior championships despite being the second highest ranked Indian in World U-19 rankings, the 15-year-old shuttler came out flying colours in Belgium after defeating players from five different countries to take top honours and stake claim for a singles place in the national side.
With Sunday’s win, Vaishnavi is set to climb to No.10 (from No.12) in World Junior rankings.
Seeded second, Vaishnavi held on to her nerves and strokes in the final to wallop top seeded Vivien Sandorhazi of Hungary with a 21-19, 17-21, 21-12 scoreline.
The first game saw a big fight with both players matching each other shot for shot. In the end it was Vaishnavi who edged ahead at 21-19.
The second game too went the distance with Vivien and Vaishnavi pushing for victory. They went neck and neck until the Hungarian pulled ahead towards the latter stages of the game to restore parity.
The top seed was quick and played an attacking game to draw confidence from her shots.
Stung by the reverse, Vaishnavi upped in the ante in the decider and began an all out attack, which was too tough for Vivien to handle.
In the semifinal against Switzerland’s Jenjira Stadelmann, Vaishnavi displayed tremendous skill to defeat her rival in straight games 21-15, 22-20. Vaishnavi won the first game 21-15 as she took control of the court.
Buoyed by the first game in her pocket, Vaishnavi kept going but the Swiss hit back hard to claw her way into the second game, which had to be decided at 22-20 in the Indian’s favour after a tussle.
Off the court, Vaishnavi has been crying foul over the team selection after being drafted to play doubles alongside another singles player, a move that prompted her grandmother to write to the country’s top authorities alleging injustice meted out to her in favour of a player with no World ranking in the Under 19 category.
Over the last three months, Vaishnavi has won two international Under 19 singles titles, finished runner-up at two more and bagged a bronze medal at a Women’s Challenger event in Russia where she even beat a player who had participated at last year’s Rio Olympics.
The Results
Women’s singles U-19 final: Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka (2nd seed, India) bt Vivien Sandorhazi (1, Hungary) 21-19, 17-21, 21-12.
Semifinal: Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka bt Jenjira Stadelmann (Switzerland) 21-15, 22-20.
Quarterfinal: Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka bt Madouc Linders (The Netherlands) 17-21, 26-24, 21-9.
Second round: Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka bt Maria Kuse (Germany) 21-8, 21-13.
First round: Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka bt Siebelijn De Sutter (Belgium) 21-7, 21-2.
