Varsity angers badminton eves

MUMBAI, SEPT 22: Mumbai University's decision to hold up women's singles matches in the inter-college badminton championship, to accommod...

MUMBAI, SEPT 22: Mumbai University8217;s decision to hold up women8217;s singles matches in the inter-college badminton championship, to accommodate the top two seeds 8212; Neha Gangolli and Sim Sim Salaria 8212; has not washed well with a number of participating shuttlers. A few among them gheraoed sports director UN Kendre at University Pavilion on Monday in protest. One player scheduled to meet Neha in a later round suggested yesterday that she may give her Neha a walkover.

When Sonali Kirve turned up for her first round match against Neha, the table official awarded Sonali a walkover. The decision was reversed later, as the university officials decided to hold up matches involving Neha and Sim Sim, till their return from Indore, where they are representing the state in the West Zone championships. It was learnt that the two top seeds and their colleges had spoken to the vice-chancellor on the issue.

One of the protesting squad said, 8220;when we do not come for a match, the opponent gets a walk-over. Why should some girls get special treatment?8221;

University officials transferred the blame to the Maharashtra Badminton Association MBA. Director Kendre said that MBA had given them the dates to conduct the tournament. There should have been no clash with the zonals then, he said.

Consequently, only two of the women8217;s quarter-finals were held today. Gauri Narayan and Sampada Pai advanced to the last four, and will now have to wait till October 18, when the semis will be held, along with the team championships.

There were no such stoppages in the boys section, and the finalists were decided this afternoon, both from Joshi Bedekar College 8212; second seed Bhushan Paithankar and Himanshu Thakkar. Himanshu beat Anupam Singh, who had scalped top seed Kunal Vaswani in the quarter-finals in the morning.

RESULTS

Men singles semis: Himanshu Thakkar Joshi bt Anupam Singh Vaze 15-3 12-15 15-8; Bhushan Paithankar Joshi bt Rohan Radhakrishnan Podar 15-11 15-11. QF: H Thakkar bt Behzad Devadhwala Podar 15-6 15-6; A Singh bt Kunal Vaswani KC Law 15-10 15-13; R Rohan bt Harshad Tawde Sydenham 9-15 15-13 15-3; B Paithankar bt Rahul Tipnis Mithibai 15-9 15-9.

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Women singles QF: Sampada Pai Ruparel bt Prajakta Mhatre Bhavan8217;s 11-5 11-5; Gauri Narayan Podar bt Anuj Wadke Bhavan8217;s 11-0 11-4.

Scavenging for shuttles

An unusual drama unfolded at University Pavilion today before the start of the men8217;s semi-finals. The players ran out of shuttles, and turned into virtual scavengers, searching for reasonably good birds among the used ones lying on the court. Two of the culprits were the eventual finalists 8212; from Joshi Bedekar College, Thane. Apparently, they had not brought any shuttle boxes along as the college had not given them the money. They were yet to be reimbursed for last year8217;s purchases, a student informed, explaining why they had not bought their own feathers. This from a college that is the reigning inter-college team champion.

Ramya, Amodi in final

Ramya Venkat and Amodi Borkar set up an all-Podar final in the Junior College Sports Association inter-college girls badminton tournament at Kalidas Sabhagruha today.

RESULTS

Boys singles PQF: Amit Singh Ruia bt Anish Atomic 15-5 15-2; T Sanjay NM bt Kane MCC 15-8 15-13; Aditya NM bt Animesh Jai Hind 15-12 15-2; Ankur Agrawal Somaiya bt Vikram SIWS 15-4 9-15 17-14.

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Boys team championship 3rd round: Ruia bt Mulund Commerce 2-0; KC bt Swami Vivekanand 2-1; NM bt Acharya AVP 2-0; Ruparel bt BH Somani 2-0.

Girls singles semis: Amodi Borkar Podar bt Rashmi Vaze 10-12 11-4 11-7; Ramya Venkat Podar bt Grishma Vaze 11-7 11-2.

Girls team championship 3rd round: Podar bt NM 2-0; Ruia bt BES, Bhandup 2-0; HR bt Bhavan8217;s, Andheri 2-0; Vaze bt SIES 2-0.