Half Hollow Hills' Rajveer Gurjal keeps Suffolk boys badminton title in the family
Rajveer Gujral of Half Hollow Hills watches his backhand shot go over the net during the Suffolk boys individual badminton championships on Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Rajveer Gurjal knew that a county championship title at boys badminton singles would not come easy.
The Half Hollow Hills sophomore has been a two-time runner-up in the tournament to his older brother Jaiveer, who graduated last year.
But this season, Rajveer knew things would be different. He’d have to play harder and smarter to keep the crown in the family.
“I felt a lot more confident and stronger this year,” said Gurjal, who went 24-0 this season. “I trained more than ever because I wanted to be number one.”
Those efforts showed Wednesday at Smithtown East during the Suffolk individual badminton championships when Gurjal defeated Northport’s Nick Crafta, 21-5, 21-19, in the final.
“[Nick] surprised me in the second set, he was a great player. His smash returns were what got me. I just aimed for his backhand more and played defensively rather than trying to score,” Gurjal said. “It feels really great to finally win this year and no longer be number two.”
Ward Melville’s Delaney Hart would agree with Gurjal’s sentiments after she defeated Smithtown East’s Nicole Clemans, 21-13, 21-12, in the girls singles final.
“Last year, I came in second and it showed me what I needed to work on,” said Hart, who was also undefeated this season. “I've always been an aggressive player, but I needed to work on my placement, hitting lines and keeping drops low. That improvement in my technique made all the difference in my game this year.”
Half Hollow Hills doubles tandem of seniors Tyler Goldstein and Rohan Chaudhry also combined techniques to fashion a perfect record. In their first season on the court together, the power duo defeated Commack’s Jack Lamberg and Nick Piombino, 21-14, 21-7 for the boys doubles title.
“Being a singles player helped me train my smash and my movement,” Chaudhry said. “I said, ‘Hey we should be a doubles team this year because I think we can go pretty far together.’ We had the chemistry from being friends and we quickly realized how well we played as a team.”
Friendship off the court also carried the girls doubles, according to Northport seniors and county champions Sami Klein and Jayla DiPalo, who defeated Miller Place’s Alyssa Gregorious and Emma Venegoni, 21-12, 21-10.
“We play soccer together and decided to play badminton together last year just for fun,” DiPalo said. “We were surprised how we finished last season [sixth], so we were motivated to work harder and improve our IQ to become number one this year.”
Klein added: “It’s been nothing but fun with her on the court, and what a great way to close out our final year on a team together.”
