KATHMANDU:Top-seed Puja Shrestha and Sujana Shrestha of Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) won the women’s doubles championship of the National Open Badminton Tournament here at the Nepal Police Club today.

The pair defeated Sara Devi Tamang and Bina Tulachan of Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) 21-17, 21-19 in final. The winners earned Rs 30,000 while the runners up took home Rs 18, 000. Sita Dahal and Sabina Panthi shared the third-place prize of Rs 16,000 with Ratna Rai and Nirmala Magar.

Meanwhile, Dipesh Dhami clinched the U-16 boys’ singles title defeating Bilal Waris 21-17, 17-21, 21-12 in final. Dhami received Rs 20,000 while Waris pocketed Rs 12,000. The losing semi-finalists Irfan Ansari and Anup Gurung got Rs 6, 000 each. Purnima Gurung beat Samjhana Sharma 21-8 to claim the U-16 girls’ title. Gurung earned Rs 16,000 and Sharma Rs 10,000. Losing semi-finals Manila Shrestha and Swastika Budhathoki took home Rs 5,000 each.

Ganesh Thapa and Suresh Shrestha sealed the veterans’ doubles title rallying past Ramesh Shrestha and Jaya Ram Hamal 16-21, 21-16, 21-17. They won Rs 30,000 and runners up received Rs 18,000. Madhav Thapa and Arun Shahi shared the Rs 16,000 third-place prize with Amritanjha and Dharma Lal Pradhan.

In the men’s singles, Ratnajit Tamang of Bhojpur and second seed Ram Singh Chaudhary of Kailali confirmed the championship clash. Tamang registered a 21-18, 21-13 win over Pankaj Chand, who ousted Nepal No 1 Bikash Shrestha in the quarter-finals. In the second semi-final, Chaudhary eased to a 21-17 first set win over Sajan Krishna Tamrakar of APF before facing a stiff resistance in the second. Chaudhary eventually the set 24-22.

In the men’s doubles semi-finals, Surya Thapa and

Bharat Shrestha of Nepal Police Club (NPC) laboured to a 13-21, 21-17, 21-13 win over Indra Mahata and Bishal Pradhan of APF. The duo will now take on clubmates Pankaj Chand and Rajeev Pradhan as the pair upset the top seeds Bikash Shrestha and Kishor Rana of NPC with a hard fought 17-21, 21-19, 21-16 win in the second semi-final match.