Top seed Saad Dharmadhikari (Pune) brushed aside a strong challenge from Prerana Alvekar (Kolhapur) by rallying to snatch a 2-1 win in a women’s singles pre-quarter-final match of the Yonex Sunrise Shri Nandu Natekar Memorial Maharashtra State Senior Inter District (Team) and State Badminton Championship 2024, conducted under the auspices of Maharashtra Badminton Association (MBA) and Badminton Association for Mumbai Upanagar (BAMU) and played at the Goregaon Sports Club on Thursday.
In men’s singles round of 32 encounters, top seed Varun Kapur (Pune) eased past Rohit Borade (Raigad) 21-8, 21-17, while compatriot and second seed Yash Shah also encountered smooth sailing and got past Shubham Pal (BAMU) 21-17, 21-7 to advance to the pre-quarter-finals.
Playing confidently Alvekar started in promising fashion against the fancied Dharmadhikari and won a close opening game. But, the experienced Dharmadhikari came into her own and dominated the next two games to complete an 18-21, 21-12, and 21-12 victory to seal her place in the last eight.
Second seed Shruti Mundada (Pune) did break into a sweat as her opponent Raksha Kandasamy (Raigad) conceded a walkover.
In an interesting women’s encounter, Siya Singh (Thane) showed solid fighting spirit as she recovered after losing the first game against Nehal Gosavi (Nagpur) and went on to clinch a 19-21, 21-17, and 21-10 victory to progress to the quarter-finals.
Results – Women’s singles (round-16): 1-Saad Dharmadhikari bt Prerana Alvekar 18-21, 21-12, 21-12;
Mrunmayee Deshpande bt Prakriti Sharma 21-19, 21-10;
Ananya Gadgil bt Shalmali Sutar 21-15, 21-10;
Purva Barve bt Hrissha Dubey 21-14, 21-12;
Aarya Korgaonkar bt Sanskruti Satarkar 21-15, 21-14;
Isha Patil bt Bhatoye Naishaa 21-17, 1-0 retired;
Siya Singh bt Nehal Gosavi 19-21, 21-17, 21-10;
2-Shruti Mundada W/o Raksha Kandasamy.
Men’s singles (round 32): 1-Varun Kapur bt Rohit Borade 21-8, 21-17;
Pratmesh Kulkarni bt Ninad Kulkarni 17-21, 23-21, 21-10;
Nagesh Chamle bt Ajay Meena 21-14, 21-17;
Suveer Pradhan bt Ojas Gedam 12-21, 21-9, 24-22;
2-Yash Shah bt Shubham Pal 21-17 21-7.