Goa’s Ateendra Gaonkar made a winning start at the Yonex-Sunrise G.H. Raisoni Memorial All India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament 2026, defeating Delhi’s Vardaan Verma 16-14, 16-14 in Boys’ Singles Under-19 at the Manohar Parrikar Indoor Stadium, Navelim. While Soham Naik went down fighting in three games against Madhya Pradesh’s Medhansh Sharma, Sudhanva Udupa also put up a spirited fight before losing 11-15, 15-11, 15-11 to Odisha’s Bhargav Daram Jeevitesh. Owais Tahasildar and Shaurya Naik fought hard before losing to Maharashtra’s Yash Dhembare and Karnataka’s Shreyas Chandrashekar, respectively. Aaryan Karpe and Viraditya Pai Kane also battled hard against their opponents, while Palak Ramnathkar put up a determined effort in Girls’ Singles Under-19 before going down to Delhi’s Sakshi Rana.
The qualification rounds commenced on Friday, bringing together junior shuttlers from across the country for the eight-day national championship, being held from October 23 to 30. Goa had some positives, with Shaheen C.K, Vedh Lotlikar, Sparsh Kolwalkar and Aswin Mannambalath advancing through walkovers.
However, Arnav Ramnathkar, Raj Dhume, Pratik Naik Borkar, Neil Punjani Bakshi and Ritika Chelluri also exited their respective events. The tournament, powered by the G.H. Raisoni Sports and Cultural Foundation, Nagpur, features the Under-19 categories across five events and carries a total prize purse of ₹8 lakh.
Tournament link:
https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/tournament/846327ab-4fcd-428f-98c8-deb0a38f0650/Matches
