Mumbai : Defending champion Purva Barve won the women’s singles (Under-19) title at the Israel Junior 2018 held in Rishon LeZion, Israel.
Seeded No. 4 in the event, Barve, a trainee at the Nikhil Kanetkar Badminton Academy, won the long drawn battle against third seeded and top-ranked Russian Anastasiia Pustinskaia 21-19, 19-21, 21-13 in a match that lasted 66 minutes, a media release said today.
“To defend a title is tough, no doubt. The field this year was tougher than last year and very competitive. I am happy to land the title once again,” Purva was quoted as saying in the release.
The title is her first in 2018 and third overall.
Earlier she won the Israel Junior 2017, Italian Junior International 2017 apart from a bronze at the Russian Junior White Nights 2017.
Ranked No. 20 on BWF Junior Rankings charts, Purva, in her run to the title, got past three seeded players – Anastasiia (World No 18), Elena Andreu (Spain; 41) and Anastasiia Shapovalova (Russia) (Russia; 34).
NKBA Director and Head Coach Nikhil Kanetkar said,” Purva is growing in experience and has been playing consistently. Her opponents were highly ranked.”
I have to comeback stronger: Sindhu
Meanwhile, Indian shuttler P V Sindhu today vowed to come back stronger after losing an epic semi-final against World No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi at the All England Championship here.
In a nail-biting semi-final, fourth seed Sindhu went down fighting 21-19, 19-21, 18-21 to Yamaguchi after battling for an hour and 19 minutes late Saturday night.
“It was just not my day. I gave my 100 per cent. There are always up and downs and one should win and one should lose. There were long rallies and she played well,” Sindhu said after the gruelling contest.
“Playing a three-game tie is not easy. Just 2-3 points made the huge difference in the end as it was anybody’s game. I have a lot of things to learn from this tournament. You keep losing and winning but it was a good tournament and I have to come back stronger.”
Yamaguchi, who had won the German Open early this month, said it was her aggressive approach that earned her the win.
“This win is very valuable asset for me. I am thankful that I got a chance to fight tomorrow.
I was just trying to keep up with the pace and hang on. I was aggressive in the end and it led to the win,” she said. Yamaguchi will face World No. 1 Taiwanese Tai Tzu Ying in the final.
Asked about her opponent, the 20-year-old Japanese said: “She is aggressive and has got speed and great retriving skills and I will give everything I got and just want to enjoy the match.”