Rehani scripts dream run to reach final

PANAJI

Goa’s Arjun Rehani produced a sensational run to enter the Men’s Singles final of the Individual events at the Yonex Sunrise Inter State Badminton championships at Campa, scoring a stunning upset win over top seed Varun Kapur (Maharashtra) 21-19, 21-18 in the quarterfinals.

Rehani then maintained his form in the semifinals, outclassing Tushar Sharma (Gujarat) 21-10, 21-14 to seal his place in the championship clash against Adheep Gupta (Gujarat).

Another Goan shuttler, Arjun Bhagat, registered a thrilling three-game victory in the Boys’ U19 quarterfinals before bowing out in a hard-fought semifinal. Bhagat battled past his quarterfinal opponent in three games in a 23-21, 18-21, 21-16 win over Maharashtra's Arjun Reddy, but was edged out by Vaibhav Singh (Chhattisgarh) 16-21, 21-19, 15-21 in a nail-biting semifinal encounter. The finals will be held on Saturday 9am onwards.

Other prominent Semifinals results:

Women’s Singles: Aishani Tiwari (Gujarat) def. Saad Dharmadhikari (Maharashtra) 21-19, 22-20; Karva Marvaniya def. Purva Barve (Maharashtra) 11-8 (Retired)

Men’s Doubles: Arya Thakore / Dhruv Thakore (Maharashtra) def. Piyush Bobade / Yash Raikwar (Madhya Pradesh) 21-8, 10-4 (Retired)

Women’s Doubles: Anagha Karandikar / Siya Singh (Maharashtra) def. Synnnovia D’Souza / Yasmin Sayed (Goa) 21-10, 21-12; Aishwarya Mehta / Priyanka Pant (Madhya Pradesh) def. Shenan Christian / Yuti Gajjar (Gujarat) [2] 10-21, 21-18, 21-18

Boys’ Singles U19: Dev Kumavat (Madhya Pradesh) [1] def. Rutva Sajwan (Maharashtra) 19-21, 21-17, 21-16; Vaibhav Singh (Chhattisgarh) def. Arjun Bhagat (Goa) 21-16, 19-21, 21-15

Girls’ Singles U19: Kavya Marvaniya (Gujarat) def. Yutika Chavan (Maharashtra) [1] 21-14, 21-15; Anushka Shapurkar (Madhya Pradesh) def. Aneeri Kotak (Gujarat) 21-14, 21-17

Boys’ Doubles U19: Divyansh Agarwal / Saurav Sahu (Chhattisgarh) def. Mohammed Ali Mir / Prince Mishra (Gujarat) 21-10, 21-6; Arjun Birajdar / Aryan Birajdar (Maharashtra) def. Angat Muchhal / Dev Kumavat (Madhya Pradesh) [2] 21-10, 18-21, 21-17

Girls’ Doubles U19: Shravani Walekar / Taarini Suri (Maharashtra) def. Astha Sharma / Krati Tiwari (Madhya Pradesh) 21-12, 21-13; Rashi Mall / Shweta Pardeshi (Chhattisgarh) def. Archi Ghetia / Swara Raigandhi (Gujarat) [2] 21-13, 21-19