the goan I network
PANAJI
Goa girls returned with a haul of four medals in the individual events at the inter-State West Zone Badminton Championship held at Bilaspur, Chhatisgarh.
Tanisha Crasto, who spearheaded Goa’s challenge, emerged with two bronze medals, bowing out in the semi-finals in the under 19 girls and women’s singles categories. In U-19 girls singles semis, Tanisha lost to top seed Smit Toshniwal from Maharashtra 21-17, 21-16 while in the women’s singles semi-finals, Tanisha was leading 11-9 in the decider against Gujarat’s Dipti Kuiti, but fell short on stamina, losing 21-11, 20-22, 21-14.
Lydia Barreto gave a stiff fight to second seed Aruni Chauhan (Chhattisgarh) before bowing out in three closely fought sets. She lost 14-21, 21-16, 22-20 in the semi-finals. In the women’s doubles, Goa’s Anar Singbal and Emilia Silveira emerged runners up, losing 21-15, 21-12 to the second seeded pairing of Ritika Thakkar and Simran Singhi (Maharashtra).
All these players by virtue of their performance, gained direct qualification into the 83rd Senior Nationals Badminton championships which will be held from February 4 to 10, 2019 in Hyderabad.
In the mixed team events, Goa’s Junior Team lost to Maharashtra 3-0 in the semi-finals while the senior team lost to Madhya Pradesh 3-0 in the semi -inals, to secure bronze medals.
