NAGPUR’S budding badminton stars delivered outstanding performance at the Yonex-Sunrise Jawaharlal Darda Memorial Maharashtra State 2nd SubJunior (U-15 & U-17) Badminton Tournament that was held at Nehru Stadium, District Sports Complex, Yavatmal. The prestigious championship witnessed participation from 502 players with 803 entries across 10 events. Nagpur’s Sairaj Nayse, partnering Satya Chauhan of Mumbai, secured bronze medal in the boys Under-17 doubles. The sixthseeded pair defeated Archit Lanjewar-Shivraj Thakare (15-4, 15-7), Praful Pardhi-Shivam Chaure (15-13, 15-13) and stunned third seeds Darsh Sarda-Soham Tambe (15- 10, 8-15, 15-8) in the quarterfinals. Their impressive run ended in a closely fought semi-final against second seeds Mayuresh Bhutki and Vishvajit Thavil, where they lost 15-11, 13-15, 11-15. Another notable performance came from Devansh Thaokar and Kapish Kolhe who win bronze medal in the boys Under-15 doubles. The Nagpur pair defeated Navinya DeshpandeParth Kanalkar (15-6, 15-6), Aadil Sultanpure-Virendra Patil (15-7, 15-9) before overcoming Samarth Kolambekar-Shlok Amberkar (15-11, 15-13) in the quarter-finals.

 

They bowed out in the semi-finals against Hridaan Padve and Vihaan Kolhade 4-15, 11- 15. Devansh also impressed in the Under15 singles reaching the quarter-finals. Seeded ninth, he registered victories over Viraj Gadekar (15-9, 15-7), Shardul Jatkar (16-14, 15- 8), Mir Ali (9-15, 15-4, 15-13) and Shaarav Jadhav (15-10, 11-15, 15- 13) before losing to fourth seed Vihaan Kolhade 4-15, 11-15 in the quarter-final. Adding to Nagpur’s success,Sara Peshkar, partnering AadhyaShinde of Pune, secured bronzemedal in girls Under-17 doubles.The pair began with a 15-5, 15-13 win over Advaiya SatheAradhya Gupta before upsettingthe fourth-seeded Pune pair 15-12, 11-15, 15-10 in the quarterfinals. Their campaign concluded with a semi-final defeatagainst the top-seeded duo ofSharayu Ranjane and SoyaraShelar. All the players werecongratulated by ArunLakhani (President,M a h a r a s h t r aB a d m i n t o nA s s o c i a t i o n ) ,Kundatai Vijaykar(President, NagpurDistrict BadmintonA s s o c i a t i o n ) ,Mangesh Kashikar(Sr Vice-President,M a h a r a s h t r aBadminton Association &Secretary, Nagpur DistrictBadminton Association) andNDBA office-bearers.