Indian girls’ Raksha Kandasamy and Taarini Suri claimed silver medals in the women’s singles and mixed doubles events of the BWF All England Junior Badminton Championships 2023, played at the University of Birmingham, England.
The Navi Mumbai-based second-seeded Raksha lost to Canada’s top-seeded Jackie Dent in three keenly fought games at 21-19, 12-21, 11-21 in the final.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai-based Taarini along with her England partner Dillon Chong went down fighting to the American pairing of Garret Tan and Ella Lin in two games at 18-21, 18-21 and had to settle for the silver medal.
Earlier, in the semi-finals, Taarini and Dillon combined well to overcome the Spanish team of Marc Martin and Macarena Izquierdo clinching a hard-fought 21-19, 22-20 win. In the other semi-finals, Garret and Ella easily prevailed over the English combination of Robin Harper and Lucy Brierley posting a quick 21-15, 21-11 victory.
In the women’s singles semi-finals, the number one seed Jackie Dent defeated another India aspirant and sixth seed Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye 21-19, 21-7, while Raksha had quite a fight on hand before getting the better of Italy’s third seed Gianna Stiglich 21-13, 16-21, 25-23.
Results – Mixed U-19 doubles – Semi-finals: Garret Tan (USA)/Ella Lin (USA) bt Robin Harper (Eng)/Lucy Brierley (Eng) 21-15, 21-11; Dillon Chong (Eng)/Taarini Suri (Ind) bt Marc Martin (Esp)/Macarena Izquierdo (Esp) 21-19, 22-20.
Final: Garret Tan (USA)/Ella Lin (USA) bt Dillon Chong (Eng)/Taarini Suri (Ind) 21-18, 21-18.
Women’s singles – Semi-finals: 1-Jackie Dent (Can) bt 6-Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye 21-19, 21-7; 2-Raksha Kandasamy (Ind) bt 3-Gianna Stiglich (Ita) 21-13, 16-21, 25-23.
Final: 1-Jackie Dent (Can) bt 2-Raksha Kandasamy (Ind) 19-21, 21-12, 21-11.