It should come in handy as she trains next month for August’s World Championships, where she’s India’s wildcard entrant, and will be gunning to look the part in the company of the world’s best shuttlers.

On Sunday against Pandit, Gokhale negotiated the quicker speed of the rallies at which the shuttle came at her from Pandit’s side of the court. Gokhale matched her opponent’s pace soon enough as she settled in to take the opener, and in effect the advantage of confidence. The second set saw Pandit wilting under the enormity of the task, as she went from aggressive to error-prone owing to impatience, and fell one stroke short in every rally.

There was little innovation on the court from both girls — more a safety-first approach that was effective, not necessarily pleasing to the eye. But Gokhale had the mettle to force the result in her favour. “There’s always lots of pressure now, since I’m expected to win every time after the national title,” Gokhale said later.

Anand holds on

Chetan Anand was stretched fully by fourth seed Anand Pawar before winning the men’s final 20-22 21-12 21-17 in just over an hour to pocket the title. Local shuttler Pawar, backed by a packed gathering, dominated the Hyderabad-based Anand but then frittered away the early advantages.

After losing the first game, Anand stormed back to clinch the second game in just 17 minutes by using the drop shot to devastating effect. Anand then had his nose in front right through the decider which he won by repeatedly beating his rival in the net-play and wrapped up the issue.