PANJIM: Maharashtra were crowned champions yet again, retaining the titles they had won last time, by winning the junior and senior mixed team championship events, at the Yonex Sunrise West Zone Inter-State Badminton Championships, held at multipurpose Stadium, Peddem. 

 The Maharashtra Senior team comprising highly ranked India players like Kaushal Dharmamer Vaidehi Choudhari, and doubles pairing of Deep Rambhaiya/Vignesh Devlekar won the senior team championship event in emphatic style, registering a comfortable 3-0 in over Madhya Pradesh. 

Though the Madhya Pradesh squad too had a few quality players in their ranks in the form of rising junior player Priyanshu Rajawat, Piyush Bobade and Shubham Prajapati, the team however could not get going against the in-form Maharashtra outfit, which played flawlessly from start to end.

The Junior Mixed team event final was a contrasting match which went down to the wire. Gujarat gave the defending champions plenty of difficult moments, taking a 2-1 lead at the end of the first three ties. 

Thereafter, Maharashtra’s girls Doubles and Mixed doubles pairs stood their ground and handled pressure moments well to win the next two ties, and clinch the title for their team. It was twin delight for the Maharashtra squads, coached by former India International player Nikhil Kanetkar. 

 In junior team event, Goa and Madhya Pradesh secured bronze medal finish while Chhattisgarh and Gujarat won bronze in Senior Mixed event.

 Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant, leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat, Mapusa MLA Joshua De Souza, SAG executive director VM Prabhudesai, BAI observer Mayur Parikh and GBA officials Narahar Thakur (president) and Sarfraz Sheikh (treasurer) graced the closing function.