Bharadwaj enters final of India Junior International GP

Young shuttler Rahul Bharadwaj eked out a hard-fought win over compatriot Kiran George to advance to the men's singles finals of the India Junior International Grand Prix here today.
Bharadwaj had to work hard to outmanoeuvre George 21-16 20-22 24-22 in a match that lasted an hour and three minutes here. He will face top seeded Thai Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the summit clash tomorrow.
Bharadwaj had defeated Thailand's Ruttanapak Oupthong, seeded second, 15-21 21-14 21-12 in the quarterfinals early in the day.
George also had beaten China's Li Shifeng 21-17 21-14 to set up a semifinal clash with Bharadwaj at the PE Society's Modern PDMBA Sports Complex.

Among others, Kartikey Gulshan Kumar suffered a 16-21 21 -19 16-21 semifinal loss to Kunlavut. He had defeated Japan's Hikaru Minegishi 21-15 19-21 21-11 early in the day.
In women's singles, top seed Pattarasuda Chaiwan of Thailand ended eighth seed Purva Barve's run in the tournament with a 21-14 21-17 win over the Indian in the quarterfinal.
In women's doubles, Ramya Venkatesh Chickmenhalli and Trisha Hegde and Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker crashed out of the tournament.
Top seeded men's doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garga and Dhruv Kapila, mixed doubles combo of Dhruv Kapila and Mithula U K and Sanjai Srivatsa Dhanraj and Srishti Jupudi also bowed out of the event.