Jaipur: It was mixed luck for Rajasthan shuttlers at the North Zone Inter State Badminton Championships which concluded in Una, Himachal Pradesh on Thursday.While Rajasthan shuttlers did well in the individual events, the performance of the state players in the team championship was an average one.Defending champions Rajasthan faltered in the semifinals against Delhi in the men’s team event. Rajasthan senior team had created a record last year when they triumphed for the first time in Chandigarh but this year, they went down fighting in the semis.However, the U-19 boys team bagged a silver in the team event where they lost to Delhi 0-2. Both the women’s and U-19 girls teams had to settle for a bronze medal.The men’s doubles gold medal by Murli Sharma and Aryan Tyagi was the only saving grace. In the final, the pair of Murli and Aryan thumped Delhi duo Divyansh Rawat and Yogansh Singh 21-19, 21-17 to end the annual tourney on a happy note.Rajasthan shuttlers were in the final of three more events but they could not bag the gold medal.In the women’s singles summit clash, promising teenager Parul Choudhary lost to third seed Dianka Waldia 19-21, 14-21.Rajasthan’s U-19 mixed doubles combination of Jangjeet Singh Kajla and Kavya Swami found top seeds Divyansh Rawat-Dianka Waldia too hot to handle and went down 14-21, 12-21.Jaipur girl Suhasi Verma won the silver medal in the U-19 girls singles.Rajasthan coach TS Bisht was satisfied with the performance but said it could have been much better.“As compared to last year, we did not match the standards this season as several main players did not participate in Una for various reasons. Luck also did not favour us as we lost a couple of matches quite closely,” said Bisht, a national-level shuttler.Key results of Rajasthan playersMen’s doubles final: 1-Murli Sharma-Aryan Tyagi bt Divyansh Rawat-Yogansh Singh 21-19, 21-17Women’s singles final: Parul Choudhary lost to 3-Dianka Waldia 19-21, 14-21U-19 mixed doubles final: Jangjeet Singh Kajla-Kavya Swami lost to 1-Divyansh Rawat-Dianka Waldia 14-21, 12-21U-19 girls singles final: Suhasi Verma lost to 3-Rishika NandiMen’s singles semifinal: 2-Manish Phogat lost to 3-Gagan 21-15, 22-24, 16-21U-19 boys doubles semifinal: Jangjeet Singh Kajla-Arnav Sharma lost to Dhruv Dutta-Nilesh Seth 16-21, 14-21.
