Nashik’s Skand Shanbhag put up splendid show while ousting top seeded Darshan Pujari in the action-packed quarterfinals of the of the 2nd Maharshtra State Dr Vijay Patil Sub-junior Badminton Selection Tournament, hosted by BOR (Badminton Organisation of Raigad) at DY Patil Sports Academy at Nerul here today. The Nashik boy trained by Mumbai coach Mangrish Palekar, displayed tremendous guts to outwit favourite 15-21, 21-15, 23-21 in an exciting tie that last 45 minutes.
Nashik’s Skand Shanbhag
In fact it was the Pune lad, who dominated initially and led 17-10 in the opener, only to see Skand narrowing the gap by grabbing five points in a row. However, change of serve at this stage, saw Darshan paying him the same coin to take the game. Though Skand called the shots in the second, which he won, the decider was a touch and go affair with Darshan appeared to be heading for a win as he led 19-16. But it was at this stage that Skand made remarkable fight back. He not only made it tw0-all, but went on to clinch the tie over extra points.
Mumbai Suburb’s Tanishq Saxena was another impressive winner to make the last four grade in the boys under-15 singles.,After dropping the first game, Tanishq rallied to clinch the tie 18-21, 22-20, 21-8.
There was an upset in the girls under-15 singles with Satara’s Aarya Deshpande, the second seed, was shown the door by Pune’s Ananya Phadke, who triumphed 21-14, 16-21, 21-8.
Gutsy bespectacled Rhucha Sawant, from Pune, was a bit slow in the beginning and lost the first game to her Punemate Riya Habbu rather meekly in the girls under-13 quarters. However.stung by the loss, she turned on the heat as she attacked more vigourously to romp home for 11-21, 21-17, 21-18 win in the girls under-13 quarters. .
Results:
Girls U-15 singles (Quarterfinals): Janhavi Kanitkar (PN) bt Prena Alvekar (Kol) 21-11, 22-20; Tanishka Deshpande (PN) bt Rhucha Sawant (PN) 21-13, 21-12; Rudra Rane (GM) bt Siddhi Jadhav (SAT) 21-14, 21-16; Ananya Phadke (PN) bt Aarya Deshpande (Sat) 21-14, 16-21, 21-8.
Boys U-15 singles (Quarterfinals): (1) Rohan Gurbani (NGP) bt Sifat Arora (NGP) 21-12, 21-19; (4) Tanishq Saxena (MS) bt Parth Ghube (PN) 18-21, 22-20, 21-8; Varun Kapur (PN) bt Ameya Khond (NSK) 21-17, 21-12; (2) Sudhanshu Bhure (NGP) bt Rahulo Kane (TH) 21-16, 21-14.
Boys U-13 singles (Quarterfinals): Skand Shanbhag (NSK) bt (1) Darshan Pujari (PN) 15-21, 21-15, 23-21; Atharva Joshi (MS) bt Aryan Ghosh (MS) 23-21, 21-16; Prajjwal Sonawane (NSK) bt; Pratham Wani (PN) 23-21, 21-16; Tejas Shinde (SNG) bt Vardhan Dhongre (PN) 21-19, 21-15.
Girls U-13 singles (Quarterfinals): (1) Tara Shah (PN) bt Aditi Rao (TH) 23-21, 21-18; Sahnya Kulkarni (PN) bt Manya Avlani (MS) 21-17, 19-21, 2-17; (3) Rhucha Sawant (PN) bt Riya Habbu ((PN) 11-21, 21-17, 21-18; (2) Hrissha Dubey (MS) bt Nikita Joseph ((NGP) 21-16, 21-11.
Boys U-13 doubles (Semifinals): Atharva Joshi/Siddharth Bhuta (MS) bt Aryan Ghosh (MS)/Skand Shanbhag (NSK) 22-20, 22-20; Arya Thakore/Dhruv Thakore (PN) bt Dardhan Pujari(PN)/Shailesh Sigh(BOR) 21-7, 21-17.
Girls U-13 doubles (Semifinals):Riya Habbu/Sahnya Kulkarni (PN) bt Rucha Sawant/Tara Shah (PN) 12-21, 21-19, 21-18;Hrissha Dubvey/Khushi Kumari (GM) bt Manasi Karekar (MS)/Niyati Bist (TN) 21-5, 21-12.
CLOCK FOR THURSDAY
Badminton – 9 a.m. onwards – 2nd Maharshtra State Dr Vijay Patil Sub-Junior Selection Tournament, DY Patil Sports Academy, Nerul (Navi Mumbai).