CHENNAI: RM Lakshmi Srinithi of Tamil Nadu bagged the under-15 and under-17 women’s gold medals in the PNB MetLife Junior Badminton South Zone Championship, which got over at the Ambattur Badminton Association premises on Tuesday.
The event held over four days saw competition in singles in five age groups for boys and girls — under-9, 11, 13, 15 and 17. The previous season of the championship was held in four cities but this time around, the action has spread to eight.
The tournament was organised by Sara Foundation (sports promotion organisation) with the support of Badminton Association of India (BAI) and Tamil Nadu Badminton Association.
Regarding the meet, organising committee head S Kumar said, “Last year, we held the competition in four cities. Success prompted us to diversify to eight major centres this time. The Chennai leg saw more than 700 participants.”
The winners from the Chennai leg will face competition from winners from other parts of India in the grand finale starting on March 28 in New Delhi. Sebastian Xavier, Arjuna awardee and Olympian, graced the closing ceremony and awarded the prize winners.
Final results: Boys: U-9: Pranauv Ram Nagalingam (TN, 1) bt Mithileish P Krishnan (TN) 21-8, 21-8. U-11: Dinesh Madouraiviran (TN) bt Pranauv Ram Nagalingam (TN) 21-13, 21-15. U-13: Siddhanth Gupta bt KB Rami Reddy (Telangana) 21-10, 21-11. U-15: Pavan Krishna Thokala (AP) bt Siddhanth Gupta (TN) 21-18, 21-12. U-17: G Aditya Bapineedu (Telangana) bt Pavan Krishna Thokala (AP) 21-13, 16-21, 21-15. Girls: U-9: Navya Kanderi (TN) bt Sujitha C (TN) 21-9, 21-13. U-11: Riddhi Sunil Shah (Karnataka) bt Karnika Sree S (Karnataka) 21-11, 21-16. U-13: S Praveena N Subburaj (TN) bt Pranavi N (TN) 22-20, 21-17. U-15: RM Lakshmi Srinithi (TN) bt Akshaya Arumugam (TN) 21-14, 21-19. U-17: RM Lakshmi Srinithi (TN) bt Swetha M (TN) 21-18, 21-13.