No ranking points cancelled from Mohali U-13 meet: BAI

MOHALI: Rejecting the organizing committee's decision of stripping ranking points from the ongoing Under-13 All India Ranking tournament, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Sunday issued a clarification that no such decision was made by the national sports federation.
"Whether the tournament points are deducted or nullified is solely and wholly a discretion of the BAI and not of any outsider as in this case was when some local person created confusion and spread mis-communication among parents and have no business to be entertained," BAI secretary Sanjay Mishra said in a statement.
"BAI has not reduced or cancelled any points," he added.
Earlier this week, the organizing committee secretary Tejinder Bedi had decided to strip ranking points from the meet after aggrieved parents staged a protest against participation of overage players. The committee, however, decided to continue with the tournament under protest.
But on Saturday, Mishra met with the parents assuring them of appropriate action after a detailed probe on the suspected players. The BAI also had deactivated the ids of two Rajasthan players after concrete evidence of age fudging was found against the duo.
Haryana's Vedant steals the show
Vedant Pahwa of Haryana registered a stunning come-from-behind win over Delhi's Riyan Malhan to progress to the next round of the boys' singles category. After narrowly going down in the first game 18-21, Vedant came back strongly to decimate his opponent in the next two games by whopping margins of 21-6 and 21-11, to enthrall the crowd at the Shivalik Public School here.
In another boys' singles contest, Pushkar Sai of Karnataka beat Venkatesh Dhonti of Andhra Pradesh 21-7, 21-4 in a one-sided match lasting only 20 minutes.
In girls' singles, Shaina Manimuthu of Karnataka and Aikya Shetty extended their game to full length. Shaina saved a couple of match points before winning 18-21, 21-14, 24-22.
In other contests, Avni Govind of Telangana overcame a spirited fight from Selvasamruddhi Selvaprabhu to win 10-21, 22-20, 21-18. Shreya Tripathi of Delhi beat Gatha Suryawanshi of Maharashtra 21-19, 17-21, 21-16, to extend her winning streak.