MAPUSA
Goan players have put up a good performance at the 43rd Indian Masters (Veteran) National Badminton Championships 2018-19, being played at multipurpose Stadium, Peddem, Mapusa, Goa. Goa’s hopes will be pinned on Dr Satish Kudchadkar who entered the Men’s 70+ singles quarterfinals with a scintillating 21-15,12-21, 21-19 win over Arvind Kumar. Sandip Kanji (Goa) will also be a strong favourite to win a medal. Bolstered by the home support, Sandip who is Goa’s top seed and a former state champions upset fifth seed Bendangnochet 21-19, 21-12 to move into the 45+ Men’s singles quarterfinals. Goa’s Marina Albuquerque will be another contender to win a medal. In Women’s 50+ doubles, Marina along with her partner Cicily John who are seeded 7th in this championship defeated Nutan Pradip Asher and Kanchana Sivashunmugam 25-23, 21-12 to progress into the quarterfinals. In Men’s Doubles 60+, Vamanan K. / Suresh Kumar from Goa played brilliantly. In the pre-quarterfinals, they recorded a commanding 21-11, 21-13 win over Hem Chand Jain / Shuddhodhan Nahar to set up an exciting quarter-finals clash with top seeds Bimol Singh Ch. / Kumar Singh L.
Meanwhile, Sandip KanjI and his brother Kamlesh Kanji are through into the Men’s 40+ Doubles pre quarterfinals by notching up an impressive 21-16, 21-15 upset win over the third-seeded pairing of Rajesh Mallah and Lalit Yadav. Parag Chauhan and Darwin Barreto are another Goan pair who have moved into the Men’s 40+ doubles pre quarter-finals with a 21-12, 21-12 win over their Goan compatriots Rakesh Mallya / Wayne Fernandes. In Women’s 40+ doubles, Goa’s pairing of Vineeta Adpaikar and Vrushali Cardozo created quite a flutter by knocking out fifth seeds Rosie Sam and Bini Thomas 21-12, 22-20 in the round of 32. In 35+ Mixed doubles, Pankaj Naik partnering Sandhya Melashami went down fighting to Suresh K. / Deepa Ganapathy A. 22-24, 21-16, 19-21 in a hard-fought pre quarterfinals match. Other Goan players to progress into the pre-quarterfinals are Sadanand Talaulikar (Goa) / Niyamathulla A. who put it across Ajay Gupta and Narahar Thakur 22-20, 22-20; Vamanan K. who defeated Sanjay Parade 21-10, 21-19 and Suresh Kumar who registered a 21-13, 21-15 win over Butchi Babu E. Several former National and International players such as Sanave Thomas, Abhin Shyam Gupta, Joy Anthony, Sanjay Mishra, Sameer Abassi, Rutupurna Kulkarni, Shrikant Bakshi and Goan siblings Ashutosh and Leena Pednekar are participating in this championship and will be vying for championship titles.
Earlier, the championship after two intense days of qualifying rounds was inaugurated by Sports Minister Manohar Azgaonkar in the presence of Ashok Kumar (Sports Secretary), Omar Rashid (Secretary – Events, BAI), Digambar Kamat (Chief Patron, GBA), K Cheema, former National champion, O.D. Sharma and K.K. Sharma (BAI Observers), Narahar Thakur (President, GBA) and Sandeep Heble (Secretary, GBA).
