Triple Double for Delhi teens

In the space of two hours,Nagar defeated Sanskriti Chhabra 2-1 in the girls’ final and Shreya Aggarwal in the women’s final with a similar scoreline at the Thyagaraj Stadium. Since the championships were a parameter to select the North Zone side,Nagar has filed in a weighty nomination.

In the first final of the day,Nagar relied on lengthy rallies against Sanskriti Chhabra in the girls category and didn’t look to force the issue with expansive shots. With the shuttle apparently on the faster side,Nagar garnered points on her judgment in the first game that ended 21-19. Having won the first game convincingly,fatigue overpowered her in the second as she faltered at the net and found her shots finding the side line,eventually handing over the game to Chhabra 21-10.

“Yesterday,I had to play a lot of matches that ended with really high scores. So fatigue set in the second game and I was not able to control my game today,” said Nagar after her girls final. But after being locked at par,the pressure to justify her previous six titles rejuvenated her mentally and a much improved Nagar took the court for the third game. She clinched the title defeating her opponent 21-11 in the decider by changing tactics and making Chhabra toil hard for points. “To a large extent,I was under pressure. I wanted to prove that I can win again and that’s why it affected my game a little bit,” said Nagar.

Aggression paid off

Charged up due to her first title,a reticent looking Nagar went in more aggressively for the women’s category final against Shreya Aggarwal. Sensing her weakness on the backhand side,she consistently gained points catching Shreya on the wrong side. A mixture of effective shots and credible defence soon saw Nagar pocketing her second title,winning 21-18 15-21 21-19. “Delhi has been a happy hunting ground so far,I just hope that something similar comes up at Panchkula in the North Zone championships,” she added.

Harshwardhan Bisht was another shuttler who turned the tide in his favour,despite going into the draw unseeded,having missed the last edition of the championships with an injury. But his lack of knowledge about Tushar Aggarwal’s style of play saw him struggle through the first game in the boys’ category final. Bisht went for his shots aggressively without realising Tushar’s prowess on defence.

Despite this,he won the first game 22-20. Tushar’s strategy was broken by Bisht in the following game when he relied heavily on tosses and blocked him at the net. Tushar had to reciprocate with tosses which in turn became chances for Bisht to hit shots ferociously for points. Bisht soon made short work of Tushar defeating him in straight games,the second finishing 21-5. “He played superbly in the first game. I mean his movement was spectacular and he picked every smash that I hit. I was thinking how to break this guy and thankfully,I changed my strategy to get past him,” said Bisht.

Playing in tandem

He also won the boys’ doubles title pairing with Bhaskar Chakraborty. Playing against the pair of Nitish Arora and Jayank Ahuja,Bisht and Chakraborty resorted to a safe gameplan which backfired leaving them a game down. Chakraborty,who covered the court really well,assisted Bisht in maintaining long rallies and helped him play his natural game. A set down,they came out of their shells and equalised in the second 21-11. Buoyed with the change in style,the pair ensured that Nitish and Jayank remained on the back foot,and claimed the third game 21-18. “We were not playing our game in the first game. But once we were down,we both decided to go for the kill. Bhaskar is fantastic at the net and covers well,which gave me a chance to attack,” Bisht said.

Chakraborty also played a thriller against men’s top seed Ashish Sharma. Winning the first,Bhaskar was stunned with telling defence from Ashish which forced him to err at crucial junctures. Ashish pulled up the second 24-22 but Chakraborty was quick to adapt and dealt the blow in the third,leaving Ashish helpless at the other side,winning 21-12.