Triple title for Utsav Mishra of AG UP

Chandigarh, Jun 7 (UNI) Defending champion and ranked fourth in India, Utsav Mishra of Accountant General Uttar Pradesh completed a double by winning the men's singles and men's doubles titles in the North Zone Audit and Accounts Department Badminton Championship at Sports Complex here today.

Mishra outclassed local lad Ashish Sharma in all departments of the game in the men's singles one-sided final. Lean and fleet-footed, Utsav Mishra took less than an hour to dispose of the challenge of Ashish Sharma in straight sets by 21-13, 21-12.

Later Utsav Mishra partnered his colleague Salil Srivastava to end the challenge of Ashish Sharma and Amit Sachedva of AG Punjab by 19-21, 23-21, 21-10 in the men's doubles final.

In the first set, Ashish and Amit played brilliantly and won with a close margin at 21-19. In second set, Ashish and Amit gained a good lead of 19-15 but Utsav and Salil bounced back into the game with some fine display of drop shots and smashes to win by 23-21. In the decider set, Utsav and Salil proved too good for the local challenge as the UP pair raced to an easy win at 21-10.

Mishra and Salil Srivastava also helped AG Uttar Pradesh win the team championship by beating AG Punjab by 3-2 in the final.

Padamshree Pargat Singh, Director Sports, Punjab gave away the prizes. Onkar Nath, Accountant General (A&E) Punjab and Union Territory, Chandigarh presided over the prize distribution function.

Results: Men's singles: Utsav Mishra beat Ashish Sharma by 21-13, 21-12.

Men's doubles: Utsav Mishra/Salil Srivastava beat Ashish Sharma/Amit Sachdeva by 19-21, 23-21, 21-10.

Team championship: AG UP beat AG Punjab 3-2 (Utsav Mishra bt Vikas Sharma 21-6, 21-8, Amit Sachdeva bt Deepak Saxena 22-20, 16-21, 21-14, Utsav Mishra/Salil beat Amit/Ashish 21-14, 21-16, Ashish beat Amit Malhotra 21-15, 21-7, Deepak /Sanjiv Tiwari beat Luv Kumar/Vikas 21-9, 21-10).

UNI XC DP DH HT2103