NAGPUR:
Rashi
Lambe and Ritika Thaker emerged champions in their respective categories with their outstation partners on the sixth and last day of the Maharashtra Senior State Badminton Championship which concluded at the District Indoor Hall in
Parbhani
on Sunday.
In the mixed doubles summit clash, Rashi and her partner Akshan Shetty of Mumbai Suburban toppled top seeds Deep Rambhiya and Pooja Devlekar of Mumbai Suburban 13-21, 21-18, 21-19 to clinch the title in 52 minutes.
After losing the first game quite easily, Rashi and Akshan fought back well to win the second game 21-18. In the deciding third game, Deep and Pooja had a big lead of four points (11-7) at the changeover.
However, Rashi and Akshan fought back splendidly to first level the scores and then claimed the game with a 21-19 scoreline.
Few days back, Rashi was one of the chief architects of Nagpur team's historic maiden triumph in the Inter-District Championship. She won both her matches in semifinal against Thane and repeated the feat in final against Pune.
Rashi, who is coached by international badminton player Kiran Makode, had represented Indian team which participated in the Junior World Championship held in Canada last year.
As expected seasoned campaigners Ritika Thaker and Simran Singhi reigned supreme in the women's doubles.
Ritika and Simran (Thane) surprised top seeds Mrunmayi Saoji (Nagpur) and Manasi Gadgil (Pune) 21-10, 21-12 in 35 minutes to claim the title.
Eighteen-year-olds Ritika and Simran had created a record of sorts last year by becoming the youngest doubles champions in the senior state championships at Latur. The Nagpur-Thane duo is unbeaten for the last four years in Maharashtra.
Ritika is a student of Hislop College and trains under
Robin Simon
and Ajay Dayal, while Simran trains at Thane Academy.
Nagpur District
U-17 team named for State badmintonThe Nagpur district U-17 team has been announced for the Yonex-Sunrise Maharashtra Sub-Junior Inter-State Badminton Championship slated to be held at Thane from August 19 to 25.
Team: Devesh Jena, Shreesh Kashyap, Shashank Kulal, Sanvik Chaudhary, Lokesh Gajwani, Nikkita Joseph, Asawari Khandekar, Pinak Rokde, Nehal Gosavi, Ananya Durugkar. Coach: Prasad Sadhankar. Manager: Sneha Faizpurkar.
Rohan finishes thirdRohan
Gurbani
shocked seventh seed S Sankar Muthusamy 21-12, 21-12 to finish third in the 28th Krishna Khaitan Memorial All India Junior (U-19) Ranking Badminton tournament at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula on Sunday. Fifteenth seed Rohan took just 30 minutes to upset Sanskar.