Defending champions Air India successfully retained the Inter State Junior Badminton Championship crown, defeating Assam 3-1 in the final in Guwahati on Wednesday.
Junior international Rahul Bharadwaj BM was the star for the champions as he gave them a winning start with a straight-games victory over Orijit Chaliha 21-14, 21-12 and then came back to pocket the boy’s doubles rubber 21-19, 21-17 against Abhishek Borah and Rajshekhar Das.
Girl’s doubles combination of Mithula UK and Prashi Joshi completed the scoreline with a 21-19, 21-13 win over Isharani Baruah and Chimran Kalita.
Assam’s only point came when the talented Ashmita Chaliha got the better of Purva Barve 21-19, 24-22 in girl’s singles encounter.
Earlier, in the semi-finals, Air India defeated Maharashtra 3-1 while Assam got the better of Uttar Pradesh 3-2.