Young Indian shuttler sweeps European tournaments

Young Indian badminton player Raksha Kandasamy continued her brilliant run as she clinched back-to-back titles in the Croatian International and Belgium Junior tournaments.

The 16-year-old remained unbeaten throughout the two tournaments as she won each of her five games en route to her title wins.

Raksha defeated England's Leona Lee 21-9, 21-5 in the final of the Croatian International played at Samobor on Sunday. She had earlier defeated Bulgaria's Stefani Stoeva 21-14, 21-23 in the semifinal and Poland's Joanna Rudna 21-11, 21-10 in the quarterfinal.

Earlier, Raksha had crushed the challenge from Tammi van Wonterghem of Belgium 21-5, 21-8 in the quarterfinals of the Belgium Junior event.

Ireland's Siofra Flynn presented a strong fight against Rakha but the Indian prevailed 21-8, 19-21, 25-23 in their last-four clash.

Raksha beat Germany's Gloria Poluektov 21-14, 10-21, 22-20 in the final played in the Belgian city of Herstal.