AUGUST 30: Top seeds Mangrish Palekar and Sampada Shetye lived up to expectations by clinching the men and women titles respectively in the Maharashtra State senior ranking badminton tournament at PJ Hindu Gymkhana today. While Mangrish accounted for Central Railway compatriot Sanket Shetty 15-12 15-3, Sampada rallied to quell the challenge of promising junior Trupti Murgunde 5-11, 11-5, 11-7.The Sampada-Trupti encounter was evenly poised at 7-7 in the third game, and with both players tiring rapidly, it was evident that one would snap before the other. Trupti did.She put one return long, put another into the net, as Sampada's experience kept the rallies long. Trupti caved in to give the Western Railway employee, ranked among the top eight women in India, the winner's purse of Rs 6,000.Mangrish and Sanket, who together brought the inter-Railways title to Mumbai CST, started testily, with Sanket seizing the momentum in the opening moments of the first game. But Mangrish's power and compact net-playwas too good for the pretender, the second game demonstrating this fact tellingly.Mangrish went home richer by Rs 10,000, while Sanket earned Rs 5,000. Later, Mangrish completed a double, pairing with Vincent Lobo to down Amrish Shinde and Mayur Ghatnekar 15-12 17-16.The women's doubles was a cliff-hanger, and Trupti Murgunde again finished loser. Her partner Neha Gangolli played loosely to gift the first game away to Kirti Kadam and Gauri Narayan, after the latter trailed 3-12. Neha and Trupti made amends to claim the second 15-13, but lost the third 9-15.Results (all final)Men's singles: 1-Mangrish Palekar (C Rly) bt Sanket Shetty (C Rly) 15-12 15-3; (Doubles): Palekar & Vincent Lobo bt Amrish Shinde & Mayur Ghatnekar 15-12, 17-16.Women's singles: 1-Sampada Shetye (W Rly) bt 2-Trupti Murgunde (A-I)5-11 11-5 11-7; (Doubles): Kirti Kadam & Gauri Narayan bt Murgunde & Neha Gangolli 15-13 13-15 15-9.
