Purva Barve clinches Israel Junior 2018 badminton tournament

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Mumbai: Defending champion Purva Barve won the women's singles (Under-19) title at the Israel Junior 2018 held in Rishon LeZion.

Seeded No. 4 in the event, Barve, a trainee at the Nikhil Kanetkar Badminton Academy, won the long drawn battle against third-seeded and top-ranked Russian Anastasiia Pustinskaia 21-19, 19-21, 21-13 in a match that lasted 66 minutes, a media release said today.

"To defend a title is tough, no doubt. The field this year was tougher than last year and very competitive. I am happy to land the title once again," Purva was quoted as saying in the release.

The title is her first in 2018 and third overall. Earlier she won the Israel Junior 2017, Italian Junior International 2017 apart from a bronze at the Russian Junior White Nights 2017.

Ranked No. 20 on BWF Junior Rankings charts, Purva, in her run to the title, got past three seeded players - Anastasiia (World No 18), Elena Andreu (Spain; 41) and Anastasiia Shapovalova (Russia; 34).

NKBA Director and Head Coach Nikhil Kanetkar said," Purva is growing in experience and has been playing consistently. Her opponents were highly ranked."