All in a Dey’s work

An unfortunate ankle injury,just when he seemed on the verge of winning the first game with the score reading 20-17 in his favour,put paid to top seed Sagar Chopda’s title aspirations,enabling Thane’s Subhankar Dey to lift the men’s singles title and complete a double in the 2nd Maharashtra Senior State Selection Badminton Tournament. And the second seed was all smiles as he lifted the trophy in the tournament hosted by Khar Gymkhana along with the Maharashtra Badminton Association.

The women’s top seed from Pune,Aditi Mutatkar,had no such problems as she got the better of 19-year-old Riya Pillai from Mumbai Suburban 19-21,21-6,21-11. The champion did have to overcome her young opponent’s tough challenge. Pillai began in confident fashion and raised visions of another upset as she matched the top-seed shot for shot and took the close first game 21-19. Mutatkar came back in smashing fashion in the second,using her experience to blast the Mumbai lass off the court in the second game,winning it 21-6 in just 10 minutes. Pillai almost seemed shell-shocked and jaded in the third,which she lost tamely at 21-11. There was more to cheer for Dey as he paired up with Bisal Das in the men’s doubles final to upset the top-seeded duo of Abhishek Sanjay Kulkarni & Prashant Bahatre 21-14,21-16,while in the women’s doubles,Mumbai Suburban’s Gauri Ghate and her partner from Pune,Nupur Sahasrabudhe defeated Pune’s top pair of Manasi Gadgil & Saee Purandare 18-21,21-16,21-19.

Results: Men’s Singles: 2-Subhankar Dey (Thane) bt 1-Sagar Chopda (Mumbai) 18-20 (retd.); Women’s Singles: 1-Aditi Mutatkar (Pune) bt 4-Riya Pillai (Mumbai) 19-21,21-6,21-11; Men’s Doubles: Bisal Das/Subhankar Dey (Thane) bt 1-Abhishek Sanjay Kulkarni/Prashant Bahatre (Thane) 21-14,21-16; Women’s Doubles: Gauri Ghate (Mumbai)/Nupur Sahasrabudhe (Pune) bt 1-Manasi Gadgil/Saee Purandare (Pune) 18-21,21-16,21-19.