Rohan, Ritika storm into finals; Malvika goes down fighting in semis

NAGPUR: It has been a fairytale run for Nagpur shuttlers in the 25th Krishna Khaitan All India Junior Ranking Badminton tournament being played at Chandigarh.
On Saturday too at the Panjab University Indoor Hall, city shuttlers stamped their authority in style by storming into three finals.
Rohan Gurbani and Ritika Thaker were the cynosure of all eyes as they made it to the finals after qualifying for the main draw through tough qualification grind.
Malvika Bansod, a student of Centre Point School, Dabha, too dazzled but failed to cross the semifinal hurdle against fourth seed Unnati Bisht of Karnataka after shocking second seed Prashi Joshi 22-20, 21-14 in the quarterfinal earlier in the morning. Unnati edged out Malvika 21-14, 6-21, 21-19. A trainee of Kiran Makode, Malvika had chances in the decider but could not capitalize on them.
Rohan, a Standard VIII student of Centre Point School, Katol Road, repeated Friday's feat by knocking out two higher-ranked opponents to enter the U-17 boys singles final.
In the quarters, qualifier Rohan stunned No. 15 seed Yovan Dabas of Haryana 21-19, 16-21, 21-12 in 48 minutes, while in the semis the state U-15 boys singles champion downed Pavan Krishna Thokala to clinch a place in the summit clash.
Like quarter, the semifinal was also a three-game thriller. Rohan had to dig deep to overcome Andhra Pradesh's Pavan. Fourteen-year-old Rohan showed tremendous fighting spirit and high standard of fitness level to pip Pavan 22-20, 17-21, 21-18 in 46 minutes.
Rohan will clash with Thane's Aman Farogh Sanjay, seeded fifth, in all-Maharashtra final on Sunday.
Another rising city shuttler Ritika did even better and is in line for twin titles after making it to the finals of the U-17 girls doubles and U-19 mixed doubles.
In the U-19 mixed doubles quarters, qualifiers Ritika and her partner Dhruv Kapila played to near perfection to upset third seeded pair of Balraj Kajla and UK Mithula 21-19, 21-16 in the semis. Earlier, Ritika-Dhruv overpowered Sri Krishna Pidole and Srishti Jupudi 21-17, 21-19.
In the U-17 girls' doubles quarter, the 3rd seeded pair of Ritika and Simran Singhi crushed Trisha Hegde and Drithi Yatheesh 21-5, 21-9, while in the semis the state champion girls surprised second seeds Unnati Bisht and Akarshi Kashyap 21-13, 21-9 to make it to the summit clash.
However, it was all over for Ritika, a student of CDS School, in the U-17 girls singles quarters as she went down to state mate and third seed Purva Barve of Pune 16-21, 15-21. Both Ritika and Rohan train under experienced coach Ajay Dayal at Badminton Life Academy.