Pooja Sahasrabudhe of Pune and Divya Deshpande of Mumbai clinched the Women’s Singles’ gold and bronze in the 11Sports National Ranking TT Championship 2017 (East Zone) here on Saturday.
Siddhesh Pande of Thane also annexed the silver medal in the Youth Boy’s Singles’ to make it a rewarding outing for Maharashtra players.
Fourth seeded Pooja Sahasrabudhe, who turned out for PSPB, overcame her institute teammate Manika Batra 4-1 (11-8,11-5, 6-11,11-8,11-9) in a pulsating final. She had earlier accounted for the top-seed, Sutirtha Mukherjee of West Bengal, 4-1 (13-11,15-17,11- 8, 11-7, 11-9) in the semifinal to clear her own path for a sensational triumph.
Divya Deshpande beat second seeded Madhurika Patkar (also of Mumbai) in the quarterfinals 4-3 (1-11, 8-11,11- 9, 11-13,11- 5,11- 8, 13-11). But she lost to Manika 2-4 (6-11,11-5, 8-11,11-7,9-11,11-13) in the semifinals to miss out on an all-Maharashtra final.
Siddhesh Pande of Maharashtra (Thane) toppled top-seed and hot favourite Manav Thakkar of PSPB 3-2 (7-11,11- 9,11- 4, 3-11,11- 9) in the second round to emerge as the surprise package of the tournament. He beat fellow Maharashtra player Ravindra Kotiyan (Mumbai) 4-1 (11-7,11- 5, 4-11,13-11,11-6) in the semifinal .
He, however, couldn’t unravel Ronit Bhanja of West Bengal in the title clash and settled for the silver. He lost 0-4 (8-11, 9-11, 3-11, 9-11).