MAPUSA
Trisha Joshi, Rudra Dukle and Harsh Mane were the big winners at the Late Manohar Dhond Memorial State Sub Junior Badminton Ranking championship, organised by Dhond’s Sports Club in collaboration with Goa Badminton Association and the SAG, at the Multipurpose stadium, Peddem.
While Trisha Joshi won a triple crown, Rudra and Harsh won double crowns each in the season-ending ranking tournament.
The thirteenth edition of the Late Manohar Dhond Memorial championship witnessed engrossing battles among players vying to make it into the Goa squad for the Sub Junior nationals to be held later this month in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh (U13) and Bangalore (U15).
Harsh Mane started the ball rolling, smoothly ousting his Margao compatriot Yash Desai 21-18, 21-16. Harsh and Yash then teamed up to pocket the Under 13 boys doubles title with an engrossing 21-15, 21-16 win over Rudra Phadte and Sarvadnya Khandeparkar.
In Under 13 Girls singles, Trisha Joshi created ripples with a stunning 21-12, 21-11 upset of reigning number one Tanushri Shadani.
The Under 15 Girls singles finals were a repeat clash between the two same opponents which was the most engrossing of all the eight finals. Here again, it was Trisha outplaying the top seed Tanushri in a lengthy three-set long final, 21-23, 21-14, 21-17.
Top seed Rudra Dukle stamped his dominance in the Under 15 Boys singles event with a clinical 21-5, 21-10 win over second seed Aryaman Saraf. In Under 15 Boys doubles, top seeds Rudra Dukle and Aryaman Saraf put it across Yash Halarnkar and Om Parodkar winning 21-6, 21-17.
Tanushri Shadani who had lost two singles finals earlier settled for two notable wins in the doubles events. Tanushri partnering Trisha Joshi defeated Siya Kolwalkar / Soumya Lotlikar 21-6, 21-13 in Under 13 Girls doubles finals while Tanushri Shadani / Andrea Kalavampara defeated Siya Kolwalkar / Rhea Kanji 23-21, 21-11 in Under 15 Girls doubles.
Nilesh Nayak (Sapana Group), Roy Ataide (SAG Coach) and Goa Badminton Association officials Narahar Thakur (president), Sandeep Heble (secretary) and Deelip Halarnkar (observer) graced the finals.