Aarav, Yusuf win badminton titles

Kanpur: Aarav Sharma and Mohd Yusuf Alam secured under-17 and under-19 boys' singles titles respectively at the second cosco Kanpur district badminton championship, which concluded here on Monday. Aarav triumphed over Atharv Yadav in a closely fought final. The under-19 final also witnessed a keen contest, with Mohd Yusuf Alam defeating Ayan Garg. In doubles, the pair of Anirudh Gaur and Ayush Kumar overcame Dhruv and Ganesh Yadav to claim the under-17 doubles title. Subsequently, Ayush Kumar and Sanyukta Reddy emerged victorious in the mixed doubles, beating Atharva Yadav and Sriyanshi Ranjan.Aarav Sharma and Sumit Jaiswal defeated Mohd Yusuf Alam and Naman Yadav to clinch the under-19 doubles title. Hannan Ali and S Sanyukta Reddy bested Ayan Garg and Anukriti Tandon in the mixed doubles event.Football: Debujeet Singh Yadav of Kanpur successfully cleared the fitness test for referee category-1 of the all-India Football Federation, held at Gwalior on Monday. He was the sole candidate from UP and Kanpur Division. Special sports: Kanpur team secured five gold, two silver and four bronze medals at the state level special games held at Divya Jyoti Dental College, Ghaziabad, from July 5 to 7. Krishna Agarwal, Adarsh Malhotra, Hashim Ali and Nihal Ahmad claimed gold medals, and Rakshan Shuka and Vaishnavi won silver medals.