the goan I network
PANAJI
Parag Chauhan clinched his maiden title in the men’s 40+ singles category while Pankaj Naik retained his title in the men’s 35+ singles, at the State Masters (Veteran) Badminton Championship organised by Morning Badminton Club in collaboration with Goa Badminton Association and the Sports Authority of Goa, at Multipurpose Stadium, Peddem.
Parag Chauhan enjoyed a fine run through the tournament, ousting Arnold Rodrigues 21-16, 21-18 in the semi- finals, followed by a confident 21-16, 21-14 win over Wilfred Jacques in the final to bag top honours.
In the men’s 35+ singles, defending champion Pankaj Naik was stretched by Parag Chauhan before registering a 21-17, 22-20 win over him in the semi-finals. The finals too were closely fought with Amit Kakkar giving Pankaj a few tense moments and engaging him in long rallies.
But Pankaj rallied well towards the end to capture the 35+ singles title with a 21-17, 21-19 win over his second seeded opponent.
Later, Pankaj teamed up with Darwin Barreto to win the men’s 35+ doubles, ousting Amit Kakkar and Vishal Vernekar 21-18, 21-11 to emerge double crown winner.
The match of the day was the 40+ doubles final played between Kanji brothers Sandip and Kamlesh and Parag Chauhan and
Darwin Barreto, which went the whole distance. Down 4 “ 9 in the final set, Sandip and Kamlesh had to pull out
all their reserves before
edging out their opponents with a 18-21, 21-16, 21-18 score line.
Meanwhile, Pradeep Prabhu / Chinmay Fallary have moved into the men’s 45+ doubles final where they will be up against Ayoob CK / Dr Sandip Fowker, while the 50+ doubles final will be contested between Vaman Fallary / Wilson D’ Souza and Oscar Afonso / Leonel Fernandes.
Sadanand Talaulikar / Vamanan K will meet Ashok Menon / Cancio Mascarenhas in the 55+ doubles final
while the 60+ doubles final will witness top seeds Peter Tellis / TA Sawant in a title clash with Vamanan K / Miguel Rego.
