TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Anura Prabhudesai bagged a double crown while Prateek Mahajan emerged Mens singles champion at the season opening of All-Goa Major Ranking Badminton Tournament, at Indoor Stadium, Panjim.
Anura, the top seed, won the under-19 Girls and Ladies events with comfortable ease. In Under 19, she beat Manjushri Raut 21-5, 21-3 while scoring a facile 21-8, 21-9 win over Anjana Kumari in the Ladies event. Men’s Singles witnessed a new winner as Prateek Mahajan, the Punjab based player who has registered in Goa this season, scored a hard fought 21-16, 21-15 win over Goa’s top shuttler Govind Navelkar.
In under-19 boys, Sanath Kamat was in cruise control as he eased his way past Varad Karekar, winning 21-12, 21-15. The men’s doubles was expected to be a close encounter, but Goa’s warhorses Pankaj Naik and Govind Navelkar played aggressively to smash their way to a facile 21-16, 21-15 win over Floyd Araujo and Prateek Mahajan.
Meanwhile, in Under 15 Boys, Ashrun Gautam scored an upset 21-15, 21-17 win over top seed Mehul Jirage while Manjushri Raut won the under-15 Girls with a 21-15, 8-7 (conceded) win over Neha Sahakari.
The Veterans 45 plus doubles event was won by Ashok Menon and Agnel D’Cunha who prevailed over Deepak Mayenkar and Candido Dias in a match which went the distance. They won 21-10, 18-21, 21-6. In under-13 boys, Soham Khandeparkar beat Arjun Fallary 21-8, 21-11 while Yasmin Sayed beat Arshia Gautam 21-11, 21-8 to win the Under 13 Girls.
The tournament was organised by Panjim Badminton Club in association with the SAG and Goa Badminton Association.
Goa Juniors Girls Team comprising of Anura Prabhudesai, Anushka Kuvelkar, Pranjal Chimulkar and Emilia Silveira along with their coaches Roy Athaide and Vinayak Kamat were felicitated on winning the Silver Medal at the West Zone championships held in Chattissgarh last season.
Prizes were distributed by the chief guest VM Prabhudesai (Director DSYA) in the presence of Richard De Souza, Narahar Thakur, BAI Jt Secretary, who graced the occasion.
Govind Navelkar was the main official who was assisted by Pradosh Silimkhan and Tukaram Kalangutkar. Earlier, Sarfraz Sheikh, President of Panjim Badminton Club welcomed while PBC Secretary Sandeep Heble later proposed the vote of thanks.
