CHICALIM: Karan Dhavaskar overcame Umakant Sarge 21-13, 22-24, 21-19 to win the men’s singles title of the State Badminton Ranking Championships 2022 organised by Mormugao Badminton Club under the aegis of Goa Badminton Association, at Chicalim, Vasco. The Sanquelim boy, winner of the CM Trophy last year, won the first set, lost the second narrowly but fought back in the decider to win the maiden crown.
The Under-19 Boys Singles final was an equally engaging contest between top seed Anish Kamath and Margao’s young rising player Yash Desai. Yash, who had earlier upset Harsh Mane in the quarters, looked all set to cause another major upset with a 11-8 lead in the decider, but Anish fought back well to prevail to a 21-12, 20-22, 21-19 win in an extremely tight contest.
Lydia Barreto was unfortunate to sustain an injury after leading by a set in the Women’s singles finals, compelling her to concede the match to Anjana Kumari who won 9-21, 12 -10 (conceded). Lydia, who has represented India at Asian Sub Juniors badminton championships in 2019, was poised for a triple crown but the injury meant she had to concede the other two finals in Women’s doubles and mixed doubles categories as well. Anar Singbal and Neha Sahakari were declared winners in Women’s doubles while Tejan Fallary and Yasmin Sayed were declared winners in the Mixed doubles event.
In Junior Girls singles, top seed Janhavi Mahale cruised to a 21-18, 21-13 win over Nidhi Desai. The men’s doubles final was a high-paced event, where top seeds Tejan Fallary/Arjun Fallary came all guns blazing to smash their way to a 21-8 win over Floyd Araujo/Fredrick Fernandes in the first set. But Floyd and Fredrick, seeded second, came back well in the second set, but it was not enough as they lost 21-8, 24-22 to the Fallary brothers, who won their second successive men’s doubles title this year.
In the Under-19 boys doubles finals, Yash Halarnkar/Aryaman Saraf emerged victorious with a comfortable 21-15, 21-13 win over Pranav Naik/Yash Desai while Aryaman Saraf and Minoshka Pereira triumphed in the Junior Mixed doubles category in an upset 21-18, 14-21, 21-19 win over top seeds Yash Halarnkar and Nidhi Desai. Pratishtha Shenoy/Synnovia D’Souza impressed in a 21-15, 21-10 win over Riya Haldankar/Minoshka Pereira to lift the Junior Girls doubles title.
Aarohi Coutoncar, Abhishek Swami, Afran Sayyed, Anuj Vernekar, Ashmeet Parsekar, Ayaan Shaikh, Chirag Mahale, Devesh Goel, Janhavi Virnodkar, Ritika Chheluri, Shaheen C K and Josh Kumar emerged as promising players of the tournament. Tejan Fallary and Aryaman Saraf emerged as double crown winners.
