Guwahati: India’s first ever women’s exclusive doubles of the National Finals of the third edition of Red Bull Shuttle Up took place in Thyagaraj Sports Complex in Delhi on November 12.
Debahuti Lahon and Maini Boruah from Guwahati triumphed over Sana Verma and Ekta Joshi from Delhi with straight sets of 11-8 and 11-10.
The duo’s from Guwahati earlier achievements
The duo has been a winner at junior level with Maini Boruah being a part of the team who won Bronze in the Senior Nationals Badminton Championship held in 2019. She is also a silver medalist for the U-19 Doubles Champion and Mixed Doubles at the Northeast Zonals Championship in 2019.
Debahuti Lahon on the other hand has been a School National champion. She was also ranked third in the Doubles All India ranking in 2019.
About the competition
Debahuti Lahon and Malini Boruah from Guwahati, Shubhangi Majumder and Ramsha Farooqui from Mumbai, Afnan Zareen and Arun Komal from Hyderabad, Nalini Malik and Khushboo Shah from Chandigarh, and Sana Verma and Ekta Joshi from Delhi qualified for the National Finals of Red Bull Shuttle Up 2021 through their respective city qualifiers.
Red Bull Shuttle Up was held from September 18 to October 20 across five cities, namely, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai and Guwahati.
The Red Bull Shuttle Up is a women’s doubles competition for women over the age of 16. Each game consists of three sets and is played like a knockout tournament.
Interestingly, each side can request a super point by alerting the match referee, for which they would receive two points if they win the point. If they don’t win, no points are forfeited.
Ashwini Ponnappa said, “It is very encouraging to see so many talented women badminton players being part of the Red Bull Shuttle Up National Finals. It has always been my ambition to promote the Badminton as a sport in India, especially for the women. It’s great to be associated with brands like Red Bull that create such platforms and gives wings to the aspiring talents. It’s been a great journey with Red Bull Shuttle Up and I only see it growing in the years to come.”
The Guwahati duo Debahuti Lahon and Maini Boruah said, “We are delighted to win the Red Bull Shuttle Up National Finals. We prepared really well for this tournament. It is always a great experience to play against the best teams in the country and do well. It is great to see brands like Red Bull supporting aspiring women badminton players like ourselves and giving us the platform to showcase our talents.”
