Upcoming shuttler Naishaa Bhatoye continued with her impressive winning streak and handed top seed Riya Arolkar a crushing straight-game defeat to emerge women’s singles champion in the CCI-GMBA Senior District Badminton Championship, jointly organized by the Cricket Club of India (CCI) and Greater Mumbai Badminton Association (GMBA).
Naishaa Bhatoye and Riya Arolkar
The 13-year-old Naishaa playing her first senior-level tournament, showed no sign of nerves and instead stood tall and dominated play against the experienced Riya, and went on to register a fluent 21-3, 21-13 victory in the final played at the refurbished CCI badminton courts on Thursday.
“I am thrilled to go the distance and emerge champion. I participated in this tournament just to gain experience and I did not expect to play in the final. I had expected to reach at least the pre-quarters, and the success has given me the confidence to play and win against any opponent,” as smiling Naisahaa mentioned.
Anagha Karandikar Shivani Herlekar
Naishaa had defeated Anwesha Gowda of Delhi 17-21, 21-14, and 21-16 to win the girls’ under-15 title in the 1st Ashwani Gupta Memorial All-India Sub-Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament 2022 at Punchkula, Haryana in January. She then won the girls’ under-14 crown in the MSSA inter-schools badminton tournament in February and this is her third title win.
However, Riya denied Naishaa from winning another title. Riya along with Viplav Kuwale, the third-seeded pair, overcame the spirited challenge from the unseeded duo of Naishaa and Viraj Kuvale to snatch an exciting 21-16, 20-22, and 21-16 victory and clinch the mixed doubles title.
Viplav Kuvale Riya Arolkar
Later, the number one seeds Anagha Karandikar and Shivani Herlekar bagged the women’s doubles title defeating second seeds Riya Arolkar and Shravani Panchal 21-15, 16-21, and 21-16 in a tense and exciting women’s doubles final.
Earlier, in the women’s singles semi-finals, Riya easily defeated third seed Samiaa Shah 21-11, 21-16 and Naishaa sidelined fourth seed Anagha Karandikar posting a 21-17, 21-11 victory.
Results – Women’s singles (semi-finals): 1-Riya Arolkar beat 3-Samiaa Shah 21-11, 21-16; Naishaa Bhatoye beat 4-Anagha Karandikar 21-17, 21-11. Final: Naishaa Bhatoye beat 1-Riya Arolkar 21-3, 21-13.
Women’s doubles (semi-finals): 1-Anagha Karandikar/Shivani Herlekar beat 4-Kareena Madan/Rima Jain 21-17, 21-19; 2-Riya Arolkar/Shravani Panchal beat 3-Ishani Savant/Samiaa Shah 21-15, 21-17. Final: 1-Anagha Karandikar/Shivani Herlekar beat 2-Riya Arolkar/Shravani Panchal 21-15, 16-21, 21-16.
Mixed doubles (semi-finals): Viraj Kuvale/Naishaa Bhatoye beat 1-Siddhesh Aroskar/Kareena Madan 21-14, 21-10; 3-Viplav Kuvale/Riya Arolkar beat 2-Siddhesh Raut/Anagha Karandikar 21-16, 21-12. Final: 3-Viplav Kuvale/Riya Arolkar beat Viraj Kuvale/Naishaa Bhatoye 21-16, 20-22, 21-16.
Report By: Gordon D’Costa