PANAJI
The curtains came down on the Yonex-Sunrise 45th Indian Masters (Veteran) National Badminton Championships at Navelim with Dr Manju Khandeparkar and Dr Satish Kudchadkar giving the Goa contingent plenty of reasons to cheer.
Dr Manju along with her partner Sunitha Swaminathan (2), TN, registered a comfortable 21-15 21-15 win over Alka Batra and Ritu Lohiya, RAJ, to win gold in Women's 60+ Doubles. It was a fascinating dream win for Dr Manju who was participating in just her first National level tournament.
Dr Satish Kudchadkar added a silver and a bronze to his kitty, following the bronze won the previous day in Men’s Doubles. In Mixed Doubles 75+, Kudchadkar and his partner Gowramma Veeralinga, KTK, went down to Vidya Bhushan Arora, UTR, and Minoti Anand, MAH, by 21-15 21-9 to win silver. Kudchadkar won another bronze in Men's Singles 75+, narrowly losing to Murali M.D., KTK, by 26-24 21-19. Kudchadkar’s tally stood at one silver and two bronze medals to make it a fruitful campaign.
Leroy D'sa and Maria Ingrid D'SA of Goa roots, representing Maharashtra, defeated Shashidhara A. and Sharada N, KTK, 21-18 21-18 to win gold in Mixed Doubles 65+. Leroy, a former National champion who partnered Prakash Padukone in his heydays, won another medal, winning bronze in Men's Doubles 65+ along with his partner Cleflend Mendez from Kerala. Other notable winners were Manjusha Sahasrabuddhe (Maharashtra) who won double gold and silver, Lingeswara Rao B. V. S. K (AP) and Sangeeta Rajgopalan, CG, who won double gold each.
