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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, OCT 21: Controversy continues to dog the women’s singles event in the Inter-college badminton tournament. Last month, the top and bottom quarters were left incomplete to accommodate the top two seeds Neha Gangolli and Sim Sim Salaria, who were representing the state at the zonals. The other girls, cut up with the decision, had gheraoed sports director UN Kendre in protest.
Today, the event picked up the threads again at University Pavilion, and the varsity again had pie on its face. First, Jacqueline D’Souza of Tolani College gave Sim Sim a walk-over. Jacqueline had requested deferment by one day, apparently because she had a modelling assignment. A professor from her college argued, “if we can wait for one month, why can’t they wait for one day?”
The comedy came a full circle when Sim Sim gave Gauri Narayan a walk-over in the semi-finals, after beating Pooja Kotwani of HR 11-7 13-10 in the quarters. Other players at the venue confirmed that Sim Sim had no apparent injury; reportedly she is notinterested in representing Mumbai in the West Zone inter-varsity at Indore, from November 8, either.
Kendre said he would have none of the nonsense. “We delayed the tournament by a month because her college requested us. If she did not want to play, she should not have entered. We will write to the college demanding an explanation,” he said. The women’s final will be contested by Neha, who got a walk-over from the injured Sampada Pai, and Gauri.
Other results
Men’s team championship (3rd round): Karjat Engg bt Kandivli 3-0; Tolani bt CHM 3-0; Finolex bt A Kale 3-0; Sydenham bt Somaiya Arts 3-1; KC bt Saboo Siddik 3-0; RD National bt Hinduja 3-0; Jai Hind bt Valia 3-1; St Xavier’s bt Somani 3-0; KC Law bt Kirti 3-0.
Mitesh drubs Vikrant
Mitesh Hazarnis of Western Railway took just over 20 minutes to outclass third seed Vikrant Patwardhan in the men’s singles quarter-finals of the State open tournament at Bandra Gymkhana today. Mitesh won 15-3 15-2 to set up a semi-final clash withAnupam Singh.
Patwardhan, pulling Hazarnis’ leg before the match, said that the low Bandra Gymkhana court suited doubles speciallist like his opponent. Hazarnis was in no mood for humour, though, and moved Patwardhan around the court at will.The contest in the second all-Thane quarter-final, between Amrish Shinde and Bhushan Paithankar, was keener. The 30-minute encounter saw Bhushan rally in the second game, before Amrish won 15-10 15-12.
Other results
Men doubles (QF): Arindam Choudhary & Kunal Vaswani bt Nitin Ingole & Akshay Thakkar.
Junior boys singles (QF): Mitesh Hazarnis bt Aditya Kulkarni 15-7 15-9; Anupam Singh bt Gaurav Kashai 15-6 15-10.
Junior girls singles (SF): Neha Vad bt Ruchi Mishra 11-1 11-0; Amodi Borkar bt Sapna Desai 11-2 11-0.
State championship off
The Maharashtra state senior and inter-district championship, scheduled at Khar Gymkhana from October 25-28 is off. The state association yesterday received a letter from the Gym expressing inability to host theevent. The event may now be held in the second week of November.
Earlier, the All-India Grand Prix, scheduled at NSCI from November 16-19, was also called off. The event was postponed because a few leading players, including National champion Gopi Chand, could not compete. It will now begin at the same venue on January 20, and is likely to be a selection tournament for February’s Thomas Cup in New Delhi.
