Insha Imam smashes the shuttle in the under-14 inter-school badminton championship. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Aug. 8: Shuttlers of St Antony’s School emerged the champions in the under-14 category of both boys and girls at the inter-school badminton championship final here today.

While Insha Imam of St Antony’s defeated Kitty Talega of Bishop Westcott Girls’ School, Doranda, 11-1, 11-0, Nishant Samant, also of St Antony’s, beat Mridul Tigga of St Xavier’s, Doranda, 7-15, 17-15 and 15-10 in the under-14 final.

Insha had a relatively smooth game with no serious opposition, winning the match in straight games.

Kitty could not stand up to the volley of smashes by Insha.

Insha defeated Shivani of Bishop Westcott Girls’ School, Namkum, 11-1 and 11-0 in the semi-finals to reach the final.

The under-14 category boys’ final was a closely fought battle. Both players displayed some great games and smashes but finally Mridul gave way to the pressure and lost the match. Nishant defeated Shashank of Bishop School, Bahubazaar, 21-2 in the semi-finals.

In the other games, Leander Cooke of St Antony’s School defeated Nimesh Nikat of Bishop Westcott Boys’ School 15-12, 12-15 and 15-13 in the final of the boys under-16 category.

This was also a closely-fought match with both the players fighting it out till the last moment.

In the semi-finals, Leander had defeated Juniad Ahmed of Bishop Westcott Boys’ School 21-4 to reach the final.

In the finals of the under-19 boys’ category, Anand Kumar Singh of Bishop Westcott Boys’ School defeated Ujwal Tigga of St Xavier’s 17-4 and 15-4. In the final event of the day, Marysa Edwin of Bishop Westcott Girls’ School Namkum defeated Nushra Javed of Bishop Westcott Girls’ School, Doranda, 11-3 and 11-5 in the final of the under-16 girls’ category.

Bishop Westcott Girls’ School, Namkum, became the overall champions in the girls’ category and was given a special prize.

In the boys’ category, St Antony’s School was adjudged the overall champions.