Defending Champions Goregaon Sports Club remain undefeated as they rallied to beat a gutsy Chembur Gymkhana team 3-0 and Clinch the Kanji Cup Trophy at the ongoing Motiram Club (for men), Ullal Cup (women) and Kanji Memorial Cup (for juniors) Inter-Club badminton tournament, organised by Badminton Gurukul and hosted by NSCI at their new badminton courts on Sunday.
From left to Right – Champions Goregaon Sports Club pose with Sundar Shetty, Hon. Secretary, Maharashtra Badminton Association, Pradeep Iyengar, President, Greater Mumbai Badminton Association, Ravi Punjabi, Convenor Badminton, NSCI at the Prize Distribution of the Kanji Cup finals played at the New Badminton Courts, NSCI on Sunday.
The Kanji Cup which is played in the Boy’s Doubles U-19, Mixed Double’s U1-9 and Boys and Girls Singles U-15 categories started with Tanishq Saxena and Harsh Sharma of Goregaon Sports Club taking on Gaurav Raut and Harshil Joshi of Chembur Gymkhana. The Goregaon Sports Club pair started on a winning note as they played with better coordination to take down Gaurav and Harshil 21-7, 21-16. In the girls U-15 tie, Alisha Naik, who has been a consistent performer for the Goregaon Sports Club faced no challenge from Krinjala Ajgaonkar of Chembur Gymkhana finishing her off 21-8, 21-6 straight games victory. In the Boy’s U-15 match, Harsh Sharma completely dominated Salaj Megharaj defeating him 21-8, 21-1 to complete Goregaon Sports Clubs 3-0 rout over Chembur Gymkhana and clinch the Kanji Cup.
In the Motiram Cup Semi-Finals, Sushant Karmarkar helped Goregaon Sports Club edged past a strong Matunga Gymkhana team 2-1 and give them a chance replicate their last year’s feat of winning both Kanji and Motiram Cup titles. In another match, CCI ‘B’ entered the finals with a dominating 2-0 Victory over Bombay Gymkhana ‘A’ to set up a title clash with Goregaon Sports Club.
Kanji Cup Finals:
Goregaon Sports Club bt Chembur Gymkhana 3-0 – Boys Doubles Under 19 – Tanishq Saxena & Harsh Sharma (Goregaon) bt Gaurav Raut and Harshil Joshi- 21-7, 21-16; Girls Singles Under 15 – Aalisha Naik (Goregaon) bt Krinjala Ajgaonkar- 21-8, 21-6; Boys Singles Under 15 – Harsh Sharma (Goregaon) bt Salaj Megharaj – 21-8, 21-1
Motiram Cup Semi-Finals:
CCI ‘B’ bt Bombay Gymkhana ‘A’ 2-0- Yash Tiwari and Jaidev Menon bt Mangirish Palekar and Gautam Lad 21-10, 22-20; Yash Tiwari bt Abhishek Parikh 21-9, 21-10
Goregaon Sports Club bt Matunga Gymkhana 2-1- Sushant Karmarkar and Tanishq Saxena lost to Viplav Kuvale and Anmol Behrani 21-13, 21-14; Sushant Karmarkar bt Akshay Pawar 21-7, 21-7; Prasad Shetty and Aakash Shetty bt Siddhesh Raut and Viraj Kuwale 21-13, 21-15