Patna: In a major setback, top seed Gayatri Gopichand Pullela was stunned by lesser-known Keyura Mopati in the girl’s under-15 singles finals of All India Sub Junior Badminton Tournament at Patliputra sports complex here on Sunday.
Both Gayatri, daughter of ace shuttler Pullela Gopichand, and Keyura Mopati have been trained at the same Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.
In girl’s singles U-13 category, Meghna Reddy M won the trophy by defeating Sharadha Hedge of Karnataka in straight sets. In girl’s doubles U-13 category, Meghna Reddy M and Tasnim Mir defeated Shreya Chitoor and Praveena S after losing the first set.
In U-15 girl’s doubles category, Samiya Imad Farooqui and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela won the title by defeating Keyura Mopati and Kavipriya S in straight sets.
In U-13 boy’s category, Pranav Rao Gandham defeated Sankar Muthusamy S. Pranav Rao Gandham and Sai Vishnu Pullela defeated Bharat and Anmol Joon in In U-13 boy’s doubles. Sai Vishnu Pullela is the younger son of Pullela Gopichand.
In the boy’s U-15 category, Rohan Gurbani defeated Pavan Krishna Thokala. In boy’s U-15 doubles category, Edwin Joy and Aravind V Suresh defeated the pair of Jayant Rana and Jaiditya Pratap.
Keuyra, who emerged victorious in the girl’s U-15 category, said hard practice for close to nine hours a day helped her defeat top seed Gayatri in the finals. Her father Ramakrishna Mopati said a number of schools in Hyderabad allow special leaves to the budding players. “My daughter does not have to attend school on regular basis. Sports should be encouraged by parents,” he added. “The organizers at Patna have done a great job. I have taken my daughter to various events across the country. This event was managed in a better way than the ones organized at other places, including Delhi,” Ramakrishna said.