CITY shuttler Ritika Thaker and her Hyderabad partner Navneeth Bokka made it to the main draw of the Bahrain International Series 2021. The five-day tournament is being held at India club in Manama, Bahrain. The pair registered twin wins in the qualifying round to move up in the competition. In their first qualifying round match, the Indian mixed doubles pair outclassed Bahrain’s Elyas Jaffar and her South Africa partner Sandra Le Grange in straight games in 24 minutes. After winning the first game 21-10, Ritika and Navneeth crushed the opponents 21-9 to register an easy win. With the confidence level high, Ritika and Bokka continued their winning run as they ousted Vasantha Kumar Rajendran of UAE and Malaysia’s Kasturi Radhakrishnan 21-16, 21-20 in 31 minutes.

 

In the main draw of 16, they will meet Indonesian pair of Ghana Muhammad Al Ilham and Serena Kani. A win will take them into the quarter-finals. Ritika and her Mumbai partner Simran Singhi as seeded top in the women’s doubles. They will face Meilsya Sari and Rachel Rose of Indonsia. Ritika trains under Ajay Dayal and Robin Simon in Nagpur and at Suchitra Academy, Hyderabad.