Mehul, Manjushree, Dhruv, Anjana also claim top honours
Photo Credits: PBC Badminton Ranking – Soham, Lydia, Mehul, Manjushree, Dhruv, Anjana emerge winners
THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
Soham Kahandeparkar beat Tejas Tendulkar 22-20, 21-13 to emerge as the under-13 Boys singles champion at the All Goa Major Ranking badminton tournament organised by Panjim Badminton Club (PBC) in collaboration with the Sports Authority of Goa, at Indoor Stadium, Campal in the city.
Lydia Barretto was in cruise control as she won the Under-13 girls singles title with a comfortable 21-7, 21-14 win over Arshia Gautam. Top seeds Mehul Jirage and Manjushri Raut registered easy wins to emerge winners in Under-15 Boys and Girls singles finals respectively. Mehul scored a commanding 21-8, 21-8 win over Curt Coutinho who was just not in his elements in the final while Manjushree beat emerging youngster Lydia Barretto 21-9, 21-12.
The under-17 girls singles finals was a much tougher fight with Anar Singbal engaging top seed Anjana Kumari into long rallies before the latter prevailed for a 21-17, 23-21 win. In under-17 Boys singles, Dhruv Angle was at his aggressive best as he smashed his way to a thrilling 21-19, 17-21, 21-19 upset win over Aashrun Gautam.
Prizes were awarded to the winners, runners-up and third place finishers (semi-finalists). Following third place (semi-finalist) prizes were awarded: Anosia Chirali & Maitri Telang (U13 Girls), Arjun Fallary & Ayaan Sheikh (U13 Boys), Megan De Souza & Yasmin Sayed (U15 Girls), Soham Khandeparkar & Sushil Nayak (U15 Boys), Manjushri Raut & Megan DeSouza (U17 Girls) and Yash Kunkoliekar & Mehul Jirage (U17 Boys). Promising Player Prizes were awarded to Ashutosh Dhavlikar and Siya Kakodkar.
The championship was conducted by NIS coaches Roy Athaide and Vinayak Kamat. Director General of Police T N Mohan, Goa Badminton Association president Richard De Souza, PBC vice-president Parag Chauhan, treasurer Krushnan Naik and other managing committee members graced the priz edistribution function. PBC president Sarfraz Sheikh welcomed while secretary Sandeep Heble proposed the vote of thanks.
