A HOST of young city shuttlers led by recent State champion Aditya Yaul moved up in the Maharashtra Under-11 and Under-13 State Selection Tournament at Club One in Virar, Palghar on Thursday.

Top seed in U-11 boys singles, Aditya entered semi-finals. In the quarters, he defeated local lad Swaroop Soni 21-2,

21-7 without breaking a sweat. Seeded second in U-13, Aditya lost a well-fought match to Kolhapur’s Aayush Patil in three games 13-15, 15-6, 15-5 in the third round.

Sairaj Nayse beat Pragnay Shinde 13-21, 21-11, 22-20 in a thrilling Round of 16 match to enter Under-13 boys singles quarter-finals. He will take on Aayush Adey of Pune in the quarters on Friday.

The duo of Swanand Gotmare and Devansh Thaokar made it to the semi-finals of the Under-11 boys group. They recorded a comfortable straight games 21-13, 21-16 win over Nashik’s combination of Aarav Thole and Mallhar Khairnar in their quarter-finals. The second seeds of Nagpur will play Thane’s Revvant Shringarpure and Shourya Kadam of Kolhapur in the semis.

Both are members of Craze Sports Academy and practice at Mankapur stadium under BWF certified coach Chetak Khedikar. Mayank Rajput, Aarav Thakre, Ghate and others also advanced on second day of the five-day tournament in their respective categories. The event is being organised by Maharashtra Badminton Association. Swanand Gotmare (left) with partner Devansh Thaokar made it to U-11 semis.