Mayur weathers Alok storm

MUMBAI, August 6: Second seed in the men's singles, Mayur Tawade survived a torrid time in the second game against Alok Singh to move int...

MUMBAI, August 6: Second seed in the men’s singles, Mayur Tawade survived a torrid time in the second game against Alok Singh to move into the semi-finals of the Trig Guardforce Ltd-sponsored Mumbai Suburban District Badminton championships conducted by Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana today.

Tawade breezed through the first game winning 15-3 but was down 5-9 and 12-14 before clinching the second 17-14. He will meet Bhushan Akut in the semi-finals. Akut won 15-7, 15-7 against R Rohan. In the other semi-finals, top seed Rajiv Bagga will clash with Sanket Shetty. Bagga got a walkover from Murali Subramaniam while Shetty progressed to the next round after Amogh Kulkarni conceded. Shetty led 11-0.

Tawade when trailing 5-9 in the second game, used the low service to upset the rhythm of Alok Singh. He made his opponent move around the court and drew errors. After catching up at 10-all, Tawade once again fell into arrears at 12-14 but saved a couple of match-points before winning three points on a trot.

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Top seed AnandPawar and Sagar Chopda have set up a meeting with each other in the boys under-13 final. Anand disected Rohit Sadani’s game with the finesse of a surgeon, winning 15-4, 15-1 while Sagar was put through the wringer before he won 15-13, 15-12 against Ajay Jayaram.

Sagar had better speed on the court and did a great job of retrieving from corners without seemingly making an effort. But he was repeatedly caught by Ajay’s superior dribbles on the net. In the first game, Sagar always led, racing to a 5-0 advantage before Ajay got his bearings and gave a good fight.

In the second, Ajay lead by one point — 6-7 — but never seemed to be consistent at that stage. He often gave away points through errors and poor judgement.

Gauri Narayan, who lost in the women’s doubles semi-final yesterday, nevertheless set herself for a double by entering the singles and the mixed final.

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She got a walk-over from Kajal Puri in the women’s singles. She then teamed up with Bhushan Akut to beat Ami Shah and Vishwajit Bhatnagar15-7, 15-7.

RESULTS

Men’s singles (quarter-finals): Bhushan Akut bt R Rohan 15-7, 15-5; Sanket Shetty bt Amogh Kulkarni 11-0 (conceded); Mayur Tawade bt Alok Singh 15-3, 17-14.

Doubles (quarter-finals): Mayur Tawade and Milind Ghate bt Sushil Jain and Ashish Rupani 15-3, 15-5; Rajeev Bagga and Amogh Kulkarni bt Jayesh Dhuri and Balwinder Singh 15-0, 15-8.

Boys under-19 (quarter-finals): Rahul Tipnis bt Karan Modi 15-12, 10-15, 17-14; R Rohan bt Nikhil Wad 15-1, 15-3; Vinayak Puthran bt Rahul Sadani 15-1, 15-3.

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Doubles (1st round): Rohit Saraf and Abhishek Bajaj bt Akshay Saraf and Aditya Shah 11-15, 15-3, 15-9; Karan Modi and Alok Singh bt Sujay Thacker and Rahul Sadani 9-15, 15-7, 15-1.

Boys under-13 (semi-finals): Anand Pawar bt Rohit Sadani 15-4, 15-1; Sagar Chopda bt Ajay Jayaram 15-13, 15-12.

Women’s singles (semi-finals): Nazneen Karimi bt Neha Wad 11-1, 11-3.

Doubles (semi-final): Nazneen Karimi and SimSim Salaria bt Nikita Hurkadli andNeha Wad 15-7, 15-1.

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Girls under-13 (quarter-finals): Gauri Narayan bt Neha Alimchandani 11-2, 11-0; Nikita Hurkadli bt Bhakti Mehta 11-3, 11-3; Ridhi Punjwani bt Amodi Borkar 5-11, 11-4, 11-6; Neha Wad bt Dyanda Chitale 11-2, 11-1.

Girls under-10 (semi-finals): Aishwarya Nair bt Urja Mehta 11-2, 11-7.

Mixed Doubles (semi-finals): Bhushan Akut and Gauri Narayan bt Vishwajit Bhatnagar and Ami Shah 15-7, 15-7.