PANAJI
Owais Tahasildar, Ramchandra Patil, Shaurya Naik, Gaurav Paradkar, Devansh Sakpal, and Harsh Mulik gave Goa a strong start on the opening Qualification day of the Yonex-Sunrise All India Sub Junior (U-15 & U-17) Ranking Badminton Tournament 2025, being held at the Multipurpose Stadium, Peddem.
Competing in the Boys U-17 qualification matches, Owais displayed superb control to defeat Advait Rao Patlolla of Telangana 15-8, 15-9. Ramchandra Patil followed with a steady 15-9, 15-13 win over Shourya Kumar Roy from Chhattisgarh, while Shaurya Naik impressed with a commanding 15-6, 15-9 victory against Aadhinath Sai M. of Kerala. Gaurav Paradkar outplayed Bhavay Duhan from Delhi 15-8, 15-7. Devansh Sakpal and Harsh Mulik also progressed with wins over Neel Pitale of Maharashtra and Pranav Balaji B.R of Karnataka.
There were other prominent Goa ranked shuttlers narrowly missed out in hard-fought three-game encounters. Vansh Natekar lost a nail-biter to Kerala's Pranav Pradeep 11-15, 15-13, 13-15, while Atharv Sachin Sadaye pushed Rishabh Singh Parihar of Uttarakhand to the edge before going down 17-15, 13-15, 15-8. Ved Shetye, Sanand Nair, Devaj Vaingankar, and Sudhanva Udupa also bowed out after spirited fights.
In the Girls U-17 qualifiers, Sufiya Shaikh was the lone Goan victor, progressing via walkover against Karnataka’s Kavya Bandekar. Dimple Revankar gave a tough fight before narrowly losing to Aradhya Bisht of Uttarakhand 11-15, 15-9, 14-16 in a thrilling contest. Anaya Manohar Kamat, Saanvi Audi, and Crisanne D’Sa went down fighting to strong opponents from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu respectively.
The tournament was inaugurated with the traditional lighting of the ceremonial lamp, graced by Tournament Referee Dr. Madhavan Narayanan, GBA Secretary Praveen Shenoy, Treasurer Sanjay Bhobe, Organising Secretary Wayne Fernandes, Tournament Director Navneet Nasnodkar, former GBA Secretary Sandeep Heble, Coach Roy Ataide, and Irfan Khan.
