Rawi is in the limelight | Badminton News

CHENNAI: The sixteenth seed, Aashi Rawat, caused two surprises in one day to qualify for the All-India Junior Badminton Tournament Finals. At the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium this Saturday morning, the young girl from Delhi defeated third seed Malvika Bansod.

From the beginning, Aashi moved faster than his opponent on the field and therefore took charge of most points. She took the opening game 21-16 and did not seem to have grown in confidence as the match progressed. In the second game, she ran away in 9-3 in a few minutes. Gayatri showed some resistance towards the end, but that was not enough because Aashi triumphed comfortably.

After the match, it is Aashi who went to Gayatri and consoled him. As the young man later explained, they are close friends, since they train together at Pullela Gopichand Academy of Hyderabad. Aashi also seemed to suggest that Gayatri had a tough quarter-final bout against seventh seed Smit Toshniwal earlier in the day, which had a negative impact on his fitness. The conditions inside the site were oppressive, since the air conditioners were not working.

"Gayatri seemed to have stomach cramps and found it difficult to move as usual.It feels good to be in the final.I had no expectation for the tournament," said Aashi, originally from the state of Uttarakhand, said after his victory.

Aashi will face Samiya Imad Farooqui of Telengana in the final. Samiya defeated Akshaya Arumugam of Tamil Nadu 21-16, 21-13 in his semifinal matchup.

Meanwhile, Maisnam Meiraba of Manipur defeated Sathish Kumar of TN 21-13, 21-11 to secure his place in the men's singles final. He will face fifth seed Aakash Yadav for the title after he beat another Manipuri, Bidyasagar Salam 21-16, 21-15 in the semi-final.

Priyanshu Rajawat, who was leading the standings, pulled out of the tournament, Meiraba badumed the role of favorite and he has met expectations so far.

"I had played at Sathish a few years ago and since then it has improved dramatically.Since then I have also improved my game." It was a tough match, Meiraba said. .

The young man regularly commutes between Imphal and Bengaluru, where he trains in the legendary badminton academy of Prakash Padukone. However, he still studies in his home country and must balance his time between the two disciplines.

"I prefer to focus mainly on badminton – I have to pbad my 12th standard exam next year, but my friends at home help me catch up with the program every time I fall behind," he said. he added.