Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
Shuttlers Varun Kapur and Malvika Bansod chalked out hard-fought victories to win the men and women’s titles at the Uganda International in Kampala.
In the action-packed final matches, Varun had to wage a grim fight to score a 21-18, 16-21, 21-17 win over seventh-seeded Sankar Muthusamy to claim his maiden senior international men’s singles title
Second-seed Malvika came from-behind for a 17-21, 25-23, 21-10 victory against compatriot Anupama Upadhyaya in the women singles category.
The junior World No. 2 Varun, who has been a consistent performer on the junior circuit and clinched his sixth title earlier this year, won the first game convincingly before losing the second.
However, the 17-year-old looked in complete control in the decider and wrapped up the match comfortably in his favour.
Meanwhile in the women singles summit clash, Haryana girl Anupama started off well to take the early lead by winning the first game. However, the 19-year-old Malvika recovered well in time and was rewarded for her never give up attitude as the Nagpur girl worked hard to win the next two games as well as the gold medals.
Sankar and Anupama settled for silver medals in the four-day tournament which saw the participation of athletes from India, Germany alongside African countries.