Shillong, Sep 17: Assam swept all before them in the team championship finals on the second day of the North East Zone Inter-State Badminton Championship 2026 at the JN Indoor Stadium here today.
The four-day regional event is being organised by the Meghalaya State Badminton Association with support of the Directorate of Sports & Youth Affairs under the aegis of the Badminton Association of India.
Assam won the boys’ team final against Arunachal Pradesh and the men’s team final against Manipur. The girls’ and women’s finals saw Assam defeat Mizoram in both.
Meghalaya did have some success today in the evening session at the individual championships’ Round of 16 matches.
Meghalaya’s Netania T Tariang, the fourth seed, beat Choying Tsepel Tamang of Sikkim with ease 15-2, 15-3 in the girls’ U-19 category. Meghalaya’s Sneha Chettri, however, went down to Mizoram’s Lalnunhluni in a close contest, which the latter won 15-12, 15-13.
There were also wins for the Kharbuki brothers, Raynell and Gavin. Raynell got the better of Porvash Prasad of Sikkim 15-4, 15-10. He was trailing in the second game but turned it around to win and reach the quarterfinals, which will be held tomorrow.
Then, Raynell went up into the gallery to cheer on younger brother Gavin, who defeated Mizoram’s Lalpekhluzuala 15-6, 10-15, 15-7. Lalpekhluzuala seemed to experience some discomfort from the second game, when he fell on the court, and Gavin pulled out a match-winning performance in the deciding third game.
Other Meghalayans – Elsarica Umdor, Pratiksha Joshi, Benhanan Kharwanlang and Gitchiak Bregim A Sangma were scheduled to be on court later in the evening.
The team finals were held in the morning session, with Assam’s boys’ team winning 2-0 against Arunachal. The girls’ final saw Assam win the first singles match, Mizoram the doubles and then Assam the deciding singles match to take the title 2-1.
The men’s and women’s finals were best of five matches. Manipur won the first men’s team’s singles before Assam came back to win two singles and the doubles for a 3-1 victory. The women’s team final was a clean sweep for Assam, as they beat Mizoram 3-0, with the victors led by star shuttler Ashmita Chaliha, who won the gold medal at the 2024 Asia Team Championships.
(Meghalaya State Badminton Association photo. Meghalaya’s Gavin Kharbuki in action against Mizoram’s Lalpekhluzuala)