Tribune News Network
Doha
Absolute Sports Academy’s (ASA) Pridhav Shyam Gopan stole the limelight in the Qatar Badminton Academy (QBA) National Junior Circuit tournament winning the Boys U15 and U17 titles which concluded on Saturday.
In the U15 category, Pridhav defeated Rohit Janarthanan to win the title while in the U17, he overcame Reuven Jithu of Prime Sports Center. Absolute Sports Academy dominated at the tournament winning five titles and finishing runners up in two categories at the three-day event held at Middle East International School Doha.
‘Badminton Gurukul’, an initiative from Indian badminton legend Puellela Gopichand in association with Absolute Sports Academy, is on a mission to promote the game in Qatar through various innovative steps.
Absolute Sports won both the girls and boys titles in the Under-17 and Under-15 age group, while the fifth title came in the boys Under-11 category.
Chief coach Akshay Gajbhiye and other officials were delighted with the results. “The players performed very well but I was expecting more titles,” said Akshay, who got his initial training in Maharashtra state in India before moving to Hyderabad to join Gopichand Academy.
Besides Gajbhiye, a team of coaches drawn from India, Nigeria, Ghana and Indonesia are working with trainees at the Absolute Academy at their training centres at Middle East International School, Sudan School and Loyola School in Wukair.
In the other sections, Diya Dipin of Absolute Sports Academy overcame stiff resistance from Fatemeh Delfi in the under-17 section to win the girls singles title. Jaishna Orchu continued the good show for Absolute Sports by winning the Under 15 girls title defeating Adlyn Mary Sojan. Absolute Sports fifth title came in the Under-11 boys were Jayden Mathew defeated Ranveer Gowtham Kode to win the crown. In the Under-13 girls Adlyn Mary Sojan defeated Aeryn Elizabeth Pradeep to give the runner-up title to the Absolute Academy trainee.
