Kiran George, Aakarshi Kashyap clinch men's, women's singles titles at All India Ranking tournament

Chennai, Dec 22 (IANS) Kerala's Kiran George and women's top seed Aakarshi Kashyap of Chattisgarh registered straight games victories over their respective opponents to clinch the men's and women's singles titles at the All India senior ranking badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

The men's singles final was a match-up against the aggressive 21-year-old and Dey, who has been known for his tenacity on and off the court. But if one expected a close encounter on Wednesday, Kiran doused those hopes pretty early when he opened up a 7-1 lead in the opening game and controlled the game with net exchanges and unleashing down the line smashes.

World No. 57 Dey, who had to come through the qualifying rounds due to his lower domestic ranking, did manage to close the gaps but powerful smashes by Kiran were too good for Dey. Kiran defeated the experienced Subhankar Dey 21-17, 21-12 in 39 minutes.

The women's singles final was also a one-sided affair as Kashyap dominated qualifier Tanya, who had upset fifth seed Ashmita Chaliha in the semifinal, from the start.

The champion had engaged her opponent in long rallies during the initial exchanges to open up a 11-4 lead. Though Tanya looked more comfortable in the second half of that game, she was never really in contention and Kashyap needed just half an hour to bag the match 21-15, 21-12 in the women's singles final.

National champions and women's doubles top seeds Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat K got better of Uttar Pradesh's Shruti Mishra and Shailja Shukla 21-14, 21-16 while the unseeded combination of Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh defeated S Sunjith and Gowrikrishna TR 21-18, 21-16 to clinch the mixed doubles title.

In the men's doubles that saw two pairs who had to come through qualifying rounds, Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar R got the better of Ravikrishna P S and Sankarprasad Udaykumar 22-20, 19-21, 21-18.

Results:

Mixed doubles: Rohan Kapoor/Sanjana Santosh (DLI/TS) defeated S Sunjith and Gowrikrishna TR (RBI/KER) 21-18, 21-16

Men's Singles: 5 - Kiran George (KER) defeated Subhankar Dey (RLY) 21-17, 21-12

Men's Doubles: Hariharan Amsakarunan/Ruban Kumar R (TN) defeated Ravikrishna P S/Sankarprasad Udaykumar (KER) 22-20 19-21, 21-18

Women's Singles: 1 - Aakarshi Kashyap (CG) defeated Tanya Hemanth (KTK) 21-15, 21-12

Women's Doubles: 1 - Shikha Gautam/Ashwini Bhat K (KTK) defeated Shruti Mishra/Shailja Shukla (UP) 21-14, 21-16.