Sikki Reddy bags three titles, Jishnu, Nishitha U-19 champs

Chennai, June 16 (UNI) India's junior number two and top seed Jishnu Sanyal emerged the Under-19 singles champion with an easy 21-17, 21-16 win over qualifier Arun Nandaluri of Andhra Pradesh in the Smt Krishna Khaitan Memorial All India junior Badminton tournament here today.

However, it was Karnataka's third seeded V Nishitha and Andhra's N Sikki Reddy who stole the limelight, the former winning the Under 19 girls and the latter Under-13 and Under-16 singles titles.

Nishitha upset the top seed P Neha Pandit of Mahrashtra 17-21, 21-18,21-19, coming back into the match losing the first game.

Bangalore-based Nishitha is a student of Prakash Padukone's academy.

Left handed Jishnu faultered momentarily in the second game, but his smashes on the forehand and placements to the back court undid Arun especially in the first game. The closest Arun could catch up with Jishnu was at 14-16 in te first game and 8-9 in the second.

Sikki Reddy, honning her talent at the academy being run by current national coach Pullela Gopichand, bagged the Under 16 singles title and the Under 13 singles and doubles titles completing a treble.

In the Under-16 finals, she defeated Maharashtra's PradnyaGad 21-15, 21-7 while in the Under 13 finals, she beat Dava Elsa Jacob of Kerala 21-12, 21-18.

In the Under 13 doubles, Sikki Reddy partnered Daya Elsa Jacob to trounce Gauri Gate and Tanvilab (Maharashtra) 21-12, 21-6.

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