Sumitra power blows Aditi away

A proud father Venkat Krishnan, explains that his son wasn’t born with the handicap. “When he was seven months old, Kaushik fell ill and was under medication. The medication somehow impaired his hearing. But thankfully, he has been able to study at a normal school and is a good student,” reveals the senior Krishnan, who is a branch manager SBI, Dharavi.

Also advancing to the semifinals was last year’s finalist in the juniors draw, Sumitra Gantayat of Atomic Energy. It is a surprise that thisimmaculate player is not ranked higher than she is — the way she dismissed fourth seed Aditi Kulkarni providing the indicator. The trim mop-top used the drop effectively to dismiss Aditi 11-2 11-6.

The other seeds to bite the dust were Pooja Todi and Ishani Sawant, both in the midget girls semifinals.

Results (Seedings in pre-fix)

BOYS (Seniors – quarter-finals): Sushil Sawant (Antonio) bt Siddhant Pillai (Xavier’s, Andheri) 9-15 15-7 15-5; Navneet Kumar (Cathedral) bt Anirudha Solanki (Xavier’s) 15-4 15-9; 3-Animesh Kejriwal (Cathedral) bt Salil Balgi (Assisi) 15-7 15-8; Swapnil Vyavaharkar (IES) bt Dilprit Singh Sahni (Joseph’s, Wadala) 15-3 15-4

Juniors (QFs): 1-Narayan Manoharan (OLPS) bt S Laxminarayan (Bosco, Matunga) 15-2 15-5; 3-Sagar Chopda (Pius) bt Ajay Ganesh (OLPS) 15-1 15-8; Zarir Warden (Campion) bt 4-Siddharth Gupta (OLPS) 15-12 15-13; 2-Anand Pawar (Jamnabai) bt Aditya Kini (IES) 15-0 15-0

Sub-juniors (QFs): 1-Rohit Sadani (Gyan Kendra) bt Pratik Bhabhalia(AVM, Bandra) 15-2 15-4; 4-Kaushik Krishnan (Thomas, Goregaon) bt Rohit Prabhu (IES) 8-15 15-10 15-6; 3-Abhinav Kapoor (Gyan Kendra) bt Nikhil Mansukhani (Scholar) 15-3 15-0; 2-Ajay Jairam (OLPS) bt Siddharth Bhimani (Joseph, Malad) 15-2 15-0

Midgets (QFs): 1-Kush Munim (Jasudben) bt Shagun Shah (Cathedral) 15-0 15-0; Anant Agarwal (Jasudben) bt Kunal Ruparel (Bosco, Matunga) 15-6 15-4; Purav Satyamurthy (Jasudben) bt Akhil Kamlakar (Lokhandwala) 15-5 15-8; 2-Harsh Jhaveri (Cathedral) bt Soumil Patwardhan (OLPS) 15-2 15-0

GIRLS (Seniors – QFs): 1-Nikita Hurkadli (Joseph’s, Bandra) bt Bhakti Mehta (Jamnabai) 11-2 11-2; Sumitra Gantayat (Atomic Energy) bt 4-Aditi Kulkarni (IES) 11-2 11-6; 3-Amodi Borkar (Loreto) bt Kusum Rawat (Atomic Energy) 11-1 11-1; 2-Ramya Venkat (JB Vachha) bt Shilpa Kapoor (JB Petit) 11-9 11-3

Juniors (QFs): 1-Shivani Mayekar (IES) bt Sneha Mahale (Canossa, Mahim) 11-0 11-0; 4-Druti Deshpande (Parle Tilak) bt Rachna Bajaj (Bai Avabai) 11-1 11-3; Kavita Kapadane(Jamnabai) bt Apeksha Gupta (GD Somani) 11-2 11-1; 2-Amrita Sawant (MES) bt Mehernaz Buzorg (Joseph’s, Colaba) 11-0 11-2

Sub-juniors (QFs): 1-Riddhi Panjwani (AVM, Santacruz) bt Kiwita Mehta (JB Petit) 11-0 11-0; Saumya Padhye (Rajhans) bt Aanchal Vaswani (GD Somani) 9-11 11-8 11-1; Aditi Mahajan (Anthony’s, Chembur) bt Maithili Parikh (JB Petit) 11-4 11-1; 2-Maitreyee Nigwekar (Convent Girls) bt Vijayata Gulgule (Canossa, Mahim) 11-2 11-2

Midgets (semis): Vinita Ghate (IES) bt 1-Pooja Todi (Cathedral) 11-3 11-1; Madhura Paranjpe (Anne’s, Fort) bt 2-Ishani Sawant (JB Vachha) 13-11 11-3 (3rd place): Pooja Todi bt Ishani Sawant 11-6 11-5

Mixed doubles semis: Swapnil Vyavaharkar & Aditi Kulkarni (IES) bt Aditya & Anagha Bhide (Balmohan) 15-4 15-4; Ninad Venkatesh & Druti Deshpande (Parle Tilak) bt Rahul Kriplani & Aanchal Vaswani (GD Somani) 15-13 15-12; (3rd place): Rahul & Aanchal bt Aditya & Anagha 15-3 15-13.

Sampada, Shalaka in title clash

Top seed Sampada Shetyeof Joshi Bedekar and second seed Shalaka Damle of Ruia meet again in the summit clash of the inter-collegiate women’s singles championship. While defending champion Sampada thrashed Pooja Kotwani 11-2 11-2 in the semifinals today at the University Sports Pavilion, Shalaka Damle had it easier against Anita Shilwant of SIES, blanking her 11-0 11-0. If the women’s ties were one-sided, the men’s quarter-finals held the attention. Third year Nair Medical student Sameer Mahesh, playing after a three-year sabbatical in academia, outlasted Rohan Radhakrishnan of RA Podar 15-10 13-15 15-4. Later, Kunal Vaswani of KC Law survived despairing moments, when the serve changed hands twice at 14-13, to down national juniors doubles champion Mitesh Hazarnis 15-9 10-15 15-13.

Mithibai justified their seeding by entering the finals of the men’s and women’s team championships. The men will take on favourites Joshi Bedekar, while the women are expected to beat HR in the final.

Results

Men team championship (semis):Joshi Bedekar bt HR Commerce 3-0 (Bhushan Paithankar bt Maitreya 15-3 15-4; Amogh Kulkarni bt Divya 15-4 15-6; Mitesh Hazarnis & Bhushan bt Behzaad & Divya 15-4 15-6); Mithibai bt Podar 3-1 (Sushant Niddodi bt Vipin Pawar 15-2 15-5; S Rajiv lost to Rohan Radhakrishnan 5-15 5-15; Gautam Poddar & Sushant Niddodi bt Rohan & Vipin 15-4 15-10; Gautam Poddar bt Rahul Parab).

Singles (quarters): Bhushan Paithankar (Joshi Bedekar) bt Jayesh Dhuri (Jhunjhunwala) 15-5 15-3; Sameer Mahesh (TNMC) bt Rohan Radhakrishnan (Podar) 15-10 13-15 15-4; Sushant Niddodi (Mithibai) bt Behzaad Devadhwala (HR) 15-5 15-3; Kunal Vaswani (KC Law) bt Mitesh Hazarnis (Joshi) 15-9 10-15 15-13

Women team (semis): HR bt Ruia 2-1 (Shilpa Jaisingh lost to Shalaka Damle 0-11 2-11; Shilpa & Pooja Kotwani bt Shalaka & Namrata 15-2 15-3; Pooja Kotwani bt Pooja 11-2 11-2); Mithibai bt Jaihind 2-0 (Karishma Bhabha bt Priya Nathani 11-0 11-2; Kajal Puri & Sim Sim Salaria bt Priya Nathani & Priya Ramchandani 15-6 17-16). Singles(semis): Sampada Shetye (Joshi) bt Pooja Kotwani (HR) 11-2 11-2; Shalaka Damle (Ruia) bt Anita Shilwant (SIES) 11-0 11-0

Neha advances

Top seed Neha Gangoli of HR Commerce entered the quarter-finals of the Junior College Sports Association Inter-College Badminton Tournament which got under way at the University Sports Pavilion today.

Results (all 3rd round)

Boys: B Mayur (HR) bt R Warrier (MV & LU) 15-5 15-2; K Abhishek (Cathedral) bt S Manoj (MMK) 15-4 15-6; S Pranesh (Swami) bt P Velankar (Somani) 15-1 15-0 (4th round): B Mayur (HR) bt A Deshmukh (Bhavan’s) 15-11 15-10

Girls: Neha Gangoli (HR) bt K Salazar (Xavier’s) 11-2 11-2; Diksha Joshi (Lala) bt M Prajakta (Bhavan’s) 11-1 11-0; Anagha M (Mulund Commerce) bt P Tambankar (Kirti) 11-7 11-4; Yesha Sanghavi (Podar) bt R Rashmi (Valia) 11-0 11-0.