Shimla, August 6
Hamirpur’s Devansh Rana and Shimla’s Pragya Verma emerged as the Under-19 singles champions at the Himachal Pradesh State Badminton Championship, which concluded at the Shivalik Badminton Academy in Nadaun on Thursday.
Organised by the Himachal Pradesh Badminton Association, the two-day championship witnessed participation from young shuttlers across the state.
In the boys’ singles final, Devansh Rana defeated fellow Hamirpur player Shivansh Rana in a hard-fought 2-1 contest to clinch the state title. In the girls’ singles final, Pragya Verma outclassed Garima Verma of Mandi in straight sets to lift the championship trophy.
Devansh Rana continued his impressive run by partnering Shivansh Rana to win the boys’ doubles title. The Hamirpur duo defeated Priyanshu Bhardwaj of Shimla and Varun Raghuvanshi of Solan in a closely contested 2-1 final.
In the girls’ doubles event, Garima Verma and Pragya Verma combined to beat Amrita Thakur of Kangra and Tashvi Gupta in straight sets to secure the title.
The mixed doubles crown went to Devansh Rana and Pragya Verma, who defeated Shimla’s Yakshita Samra and Harshvardhan Singh in the final.
Vishwanath Malkotiya announced the results of the championship. The closing ceremony was presided over by former Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Chief Engineer Vijay Kartoon, who presented the trophies and medals to the winners.
Among those present were Himachal Pradesh Badminton Association General Secretary Ramesh Thakur, Treasurer Sanjay Kalia, Organising Secretary Rajendra Sharma, Vice-President Chandrashekhar Turki, and other office-bearers of the association.
