MARGAO
Goa’s Sandhya Melasheemi along with her partner Sangeeta Mari won bronze at the prestigious BWF World Senior badminton championships in Huelva, Spain.
Representing India, Sandhya/ Sangeeta defeated Sabine Froehlich/ Christine Klitsch 21-11, 21-4 in Women’s Doubles 35+ quarterfinals before losing to number two seeds and eventual winners Gry Uhrenholt Hermansen/ Helle Kæmpegaard from Denmark in a close 21-14, 22-20 score line. Sandhya also reached the quarterfinals in her Women’s Singles event in 35+ age category. Goa’s top pair in Men’s Doubles 65+, Tanaji Sawant and Pradeep Dhond put up a creditable performance, reaching the quarterfinals before being edged out 21-14, 28-26 by Russian pair of Vladimir Koloskov/ Igor Ponomarev.
K A Aneesh/ Vijay Lancy Mascarenhas won Gold for India in MD 45+. Other Indians to win silver were J B S Vidyadhar/ Ajit B Umrani (MD 40+), Nupura Gadgil/ Pooja Patil (WD 35+) and Padmanabha Raghavan/ Varun Sharma (MD 35+) while India bagged 5 Bronze medals in all in these World championships.
