TEAM Lions defeated Avengers 3-2 to win the Nagpur Veterans Badminton League organised by Nagpur District Badminton Association (NDBA) at Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University’s Subhedar Hall, Ravi Nagar.

Ten teams led by a woman player participated in the tournament.

Team Lions was represented by Manjiri Dhok (Captain), Rajendra Kharabe, Gurdeep Singh Arora, Sandeep Udapurjar, Santosh Pande, Narendra Shende, Prashant Paharia, Aatish Danger, Rajendra Yadav and Piyush Makhe. Team Avengers had Manasi Patwardhan (Captain), Anand Ambadas Kasrekar, Bonthu Ravi, Raju Barapatra, Karamjeet Singh, Abhijit Mandavgane, Sachin Agne, Sanjay Nichat, Gaurav Bhusari and Nikhil Sakhare. Team Eagles, comprising Trupti Ambaselkar (Captain), Anant Apte, Sameer Rawale, Narendra Sawarkar, Akash Agrawal, Sachin Khemuka, Anand Shahapurkar, Shrikant Gotmare, Dr Arivnd Joshi and Sagar Sonule, finished third.

Team Panthers, which had Madhu Adwani (Captain), Rajendra Saoji, Milind Joshi, Bhavesh Deshmukh, Manoj Jain, Nikhil Rokde, Vivek Huskule, Tapan Suryawanshi, Prashant Khokale and Jatin Deshmukh were also declared third.

The players who had good performance at All India Masters Badminton Championship 2023 at Goa and qualified for World Masters Championship at Korea in September 2023 were also facilitated. They are Kiran Makode (50 men’s singles), Nilima Mahajan (60 women’s singles), Ashish Khedikar (45 men’s singles). Reserve players include Sharad Mahajan (65 men’s singles), Manisha Bhawatkar and Manasi Patwardhan (women’s doubles Arvind Joshi and Rajesh Seluka (55 men’s doubles).

Mangesh Kashikar, Senior Vice-President, MBA and Secretary NDBA, Jovel Chandekar, Secretary Coaching, MBA and Secretary Chandrapur District Badminton Association, Kiran Makode, Ashish Khedikar, Sharad Mahajan, Anant Apte, Treasurer NDBA, Gurudeep Singh Arora, Bhavesh Deshmukh, EC members NDBA, Aditya Galande, Chief Referee, were present during the prize distribution function.