Narayan Ramdhani cops two gold medals on return to court

Guyana’s top badminton player Narayan Ramdhani made a spectacular return to the court last weekend, copping a pair of gold medals at the Kings University 2021 Open Summer Tournament in Alberta, Canada.

The national player won the Singles and Mixed Doubles in his first tournament since returning to Canada, after spending some time in Guyana.

After gaining a bye in the first round of the Men’s Singles, Ramdhani defeated Jatin Rathour 21-5, 21-10 in Round Two; Kyle Gomez 21-10, 21-10 in the quarter-finals; Calvin Siu 21-10, 21-18 in the semi-finals; and then Calvin Kwan 21-6, 21-10 in the championship game.

In the Mixed Doubles he teamed up with Abby Ledda, again gaining a bye in the first round.

In Round Two, they defeated Joe Lu/Jing Yang 21-13, 21-10, followed by a quarter-finals victory over William Kwan/Eyota Kwan 21-7, 21-14.

In the semi-finals, Ramdhani/Ledda defeated Rishav Raj/Anna Chakravorty 21-15, 18-21, 21-15, and then prevailed 23-21, 21-16 in the final against Sunny Singh/Manasi Pandit.

Ramdhani, a Business Management student at Kings University where he is on scholarship, had played in the Guatemala International during his break in May-July with the hopes of improving his world rankings, but narrowly missed out on an Olympic tripartite spot by a few points.

During his vacation in Guyana recently, the badminton standout won the national tournament and conducted four Shuttle Time programmes in Linden and Berbice and an Air Badminton Project at the University of Guyana.

Looking ahead, Ramdhani is aiming to attend the Mexican International in early September to officially begin his journey to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics.