Triple crown for Anura;Sharmad, Rahul bag double
HERALD SPORTS DESK
PANJIM, JULY 18
Anura Prabhudesai won a triple crown at Dhond Memorial All-Goa Major Ranking Badminton Tournament organised by Goa Badminton Association at Indoor Stadium, Campal, here on Sunday.
Sharmad Mahajan and Rahul Chandrashekar won a double crown each.
Sharmad lost the first set 16-21 to Aniket Shenai but came back strongly to win the next two 21-15, 21-16 to clinch the under-19 boys title. Then partnering Aniket Shenai, Sharmad bagged his double crown as the duo went on to score a thumping 21-8, 21- 19 win over Chinmay Kamat and Rahul Chandrashekar in the under- 19 doubles event, thereby extracting sweet revenge for their loss to the same opponents in the previous tournament.
Anura put up a stupendous performance throughout. In the under- 13 girls finals, she smashed her way past her opponent Emilia Silveira winning 21-4, 21-3 and later outplayed Pranjal Chimulkar 21-8, 21-16 to win the under-16 girls crown. Anura bagged her triple as Anushka Kuvelkar who was suffering from fever conceded the under-19 girls singles crown.
In the under-13 boys category, top seed Dhruv Angle fought hard before beating a resolute Tejan Fallary 21-17, 21-17.
In the other matches, Rahul Chandrashekar, who had knocked out top seed Chinmay Kamat in the semis, carried forward his impressive run of form into the finals. He outplayed talented youngster Pranav Silimkhan 21-10, 21-8 to emerge winner in the under-16 boys event.
Rahul later teamed up with Chinmay to score a convincing 21-16, 21-16 win over Shashank Desai and Pranav Silimkhan and emerge victorious in the under-16 doubles event.
Sripad Naik, MP was the chief guest and distributed the prizes in the presence of guest of honour Richard De Souza, BAI joint secretary and GBA secretary, Narahar Thakur. Gaurish Dhond welcomed. Pradosh Silimkhan compered.
