June 18: Odisha international shuttler Rutaparna Panda and her Kerala partner Arathi Sara Sunil won the women doubles title in the All-India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament at KBA Courts in Bengaluru today. They beat Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker 21-10, 21-12 in the final that lasted 32 minutes.

Sourabh Verma and Sai Uttejitha Rao won the men’s and women’s singles title respectively. The men’s doubles crown was bagged by Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran. In mixed doubles event, the title was captured by Dhruv Kapila and Meghana Jakkampudi.

This tournament served as qualification for the Asian Games 2018. A total prize fund of Rs 5 lakh was presented to the title winners and runners-up. Indian badminton legend Prakash Padukone and Odisha Badminton Association secretary Pradip Mohanty were present on the occasion.

A trainee of Hyderabad-based Gopichand Academy, Rutaparna will next play in the All India Senior Ranking Tournament at Hyderabad from June 19 to 24, 2018. She will start her campaign from qualifying stage. The Hyderabad tournament will be the second qualification event for the upcoming Asian Games.

Cuttack lass Rutaparna has made tremendous improvement after joining Gopichand Academy in 2016. She represented India in the World Junior Championship at Yogyakarta, Indonesia in October, 2017 and bagged a double by winning both the women’s doubles and mixed doubles titles in the All India Senior Ranking Tournament at Lucknow in March, 2018.
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PHOTO: Rutaparna Panda (1st from right) with Sourabh Verma and Sai Uttejitha Rao in Bengaluru on June 18, 2018.