Pune: Twelve-year-old Tara Shah bagged her maiden all-India level title winning the Under-13 girls singles title at the All India Sub Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament 2017, held at the Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium, Jaipur, Rajasthan. 

In the final, the Nikhil Kanetkar Badminton Academy - NKBA trainee and No.2 seed staged a come-from-behind win over tenth seed Gayathri Rani Jaiswal (Karnataka) 19-21, 21-12, 21-12 in a 40-minute encounter.

Tara’s earlier best was the runners-up position at the All India Sub Junior Ranking meet at Coimbatore in the same age-group category.

Tara’s title was also the lone title that Pune and Maharashtra annexed in the meet.

En route the title, Tara’s six-match run included two three-game encounters. The first against Shreya Lele (Gujarat) 21-13, 16-21, 21-7, before Gayatri pushed her to bring out her best in the summit clash.

At Japur, Tara also achieved her best-ever performance in the Under-15 section by reaching the Under-15 girls singles semifinals. Tara, unseeded in the section, showed the door to two seeded players, which included No. 9 Tanya Hemanth (Karnataka) 21-13, 21-19 in the second round and then downed state rival and No.10 Ananya Phadke 14-21, 21-15, 21-19. In the last-4 she bowed to No.5 Aashi Rawat 18-21, 15-21.

Tara’s impressive run this year also includes winning a double in the 1st Sub Junior State Selection at Mulund, Mumbai earlier in June.

RESULTS

Under-15, #Singles, No. 2 Seed

Fs: b 10-Gayathri Rani Jaiswal (Ktk) 19-21, 21-12, 21-12

SF: b 12-Manya Avlani (Mah) 21-17, 21-14

QF: b Sakshi Phogat (Raj) 21-12, 21-15

R3: b Devika Sihag (Har) 21-14, 21-15

R2: b Shreya Lele (Guj) 21-13, 16-21, 21-7

R1: b Q-Aadhya Singh (Jar) 21-7, 21-7

Under-15, #Singles, Unseeded

SF: l 5-Aashi Rawat (Dli) 18-21, 15-21

QF: b 10-Ananya Phadke (Mah) 14-21, 21-15, 21-19

R3: b WC-Sakshi Phogat (Raj) 18-21, 21-12, 21-13

R2: b 9-Tanya Hemanth (Kar) 21-13, 21-19

R1: b Radhika Sharma (PNB) 21-12, 21-19.