Double for Podar

MUMBAI, OCT 25: RA Podar relied on their team strength to score a double in the Inter-collegiate team badminton championship at Universit...

MUMBAI, OCT 25: RA Podar relied on their team strength to score a double in the Inter-collegiate team badminton championship at University Pavilion today. The combination of Behzad Devadhwala, an MCom student, Rohan Radhakrishnan, Rahul Parab and Abhimanyu was always going to be difficult for KC Law, relying heavily on Kunal Vaswani. Podar won 3-1, Kunal providing the only cheer for KC, in a tough opening singles against Rohan. KC Law were denied a graceful defeat, when Behzad and Abhimanyu beat Kunal and Raj Panchmaria in the first doubles.

The Podar women were too strong for HR, despite the latter having the state8217;s top junior Neha Gangolli in their ranks. Neha skipped the opening singles, and Podar8217;s Gauri Narayan closed out the match 2-0 in the doubles with Uma Madhavan.

RESULTS

Men Team C8217;Ships final: RA Podar bt HR 3-1 Rohan Radhakrishnan lost to Kunal Vaswani 7-15 17-16 10-15; Behzad Devadhwala bt Raj Panchmaria 15-2 15-3; Behzad amp; Abhimanyu bt Kunal amp; Raj 15-6 15-11; RahulParab bt Hamir Desai 15-3 15-7; Third place: Sydenham bt Joshi Bedekar 3-2 Harshad Tawde lost to Himanshu Thakkar 15-17 15-12 9-15; Deepak Jaitly lost to Bhushan Paithankar 4-15 5-15; Harshad amp; Deepak bt Himanshu amp; Bhushan 15-7 10-15 15-9; Kunal Rao w/o Rakesh; Kunal amp; Pruthvi w/o Manoj.

Women Team C8217;Ships: Podar bt HR 2-0 Gauri Narayan bt Pooja Kotwani 11-4 11-6; Gauri amp; Uma Madhavan bt Neha Gangolli amp; Pooja Kotwani 15-6 15-5; Third place: SIES ASC bt Xavier8217;s 2-0 Sakshi Gupta bt Natasha Sahgal 11-7 11-8; Aruna Jayram amp; Kiran Motwani bt Monica Hannah amp; PN Swathi 15-10 12-15 17-16.

Amrish Shinde shines

Himanshu Thakkar defeated Mitesh Hazarnis, after the latter retired due to a recurring ankle injury, in the junior boys final of the Bandra Gymkhana State open badminton tournament yesterday.

Another Thaneite, Amrish Shinde, won the men8217;s title, defeating his doubles partner Mayur Ghatnekar.

RESULTS ALL FINALS

Men singles: Amrish Shinde bt Mayur Ghatnekar 15-5 15-14;Doubles: Amrish Shinde amp; Mayur Ghatnekar bt Sushant Niddodi amp; Alok Singh 12-15 15-8 15-11.

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Junior boys singles: Himanshu Thakkar bt Mitesh Hazarnis 6-15 15-12 8-1. Mixed doubles: Mitesh Hazarnis amp; Gauri Narayan bt Mayur Ghatnekar amp; Kirti Kadam 15-9 15-13.