PANJIM, DEC 20
Sharmad Mahajan, Anushka Kuvelkar and Vaman Fallary claimed double crowns each at SAG State Badminton Championship organised by Goa Badminton Association at indoor stadium, Campal, here.
Top seed Anushka Kuvelkar won both her events with comfortable ease, brushing aside the challenge of second seed Anura Prabhudesai. Anushka won the U-16 girls event 21-12, 21-9. She won her ladies single title scoring a 21-17, 21-10 win over the same opponent.
It was a sweet comeback for former State player Vaman Fallary as he went on to win both the singles and doubles titles in the Veterans-45 plus category. Vaman, teaming up with Mahesh kudchadkar, stunned top seeds Tanaji Sawant and P.K. Gupta 12-21, 21-14, 21-15 doubles encounter while in the Veterans singles event, Vaman cruised to a comfortable 21-13, 21-8 win over Cancio Mascarenas, bagging his double crown in the process.
Sharmad Mahajan also won a double crown, winning both the events in the U-19 boys category. In the singles, Sharmad had to fight hard before defeating a determined Aniket Shenai 21-17, 23-21. In the doubles event, Sharmad and Aniket beat Salil Naik and Krishnaraj Gawas 21-19, 21-8.
Meanwhile, in the U-13 boys event, Tejan Fallary stunned top seed Dhruv Angle 21-17, 21-18 to emerge victorious. There was however no such surprise in the U-13 girls event as top seed Anura Prabhudesai beat Emilia Silveira 21-12, 21-9, although her second seeded opponent did give her a few jitters in the first set.
In the U-16 boys event, top seed Pranav Silimkhan beat Saish Salekar 21-14, 21-16 to emerge champion.
In the mens singles, surprise finalist Navneet Nasnodkar, who had earlier stunned Floyd Araujo, looked to be out of steam. He was dominated from start to end by Govind Navelkar and losing 8-21, 5-21 to Goa’s premier shuttler.
The match of the day was the closely awaited encounter between Floyd Araujo and Navneet Nasnodkar and the Kanji Brothers. The former State champions Sandeep and Kamlesh Kanji were expected to win this match and were high in confidence after knocking out formidable Govind Navelkar and Pankaj Naik in the semis, but their younger opponents appeared hungrier for victory, winning the pulsating edge-of-the-seat contest by a close 19-21, 21-13, 21-17 scoreline.
Promising player prizes were awarded to Varad Karekar, Malati Dani, Jaideep Singh. Hilary Fernandes was awarded the senior player prize.
Ashok Menon, Director of Fire and Emergency Services, was the chief guest and distributed the prizes along with GBA president, Richard De Souza and treasurer Gaurish Dhond. Pradosh Silimkhan compered and tournament coordinator Sandeep Heble proposed the vote of thanks.
