Arundhati, Rasika suffer close defeats in All India Badminton

NAGPUR: The city's challenge ended with the loss of Arundhati Pantawane and Rasika Raje in the All India Senior Ranking Badminton tournament at Bhilwara, Rajasthan, on Saturday.
While Arundhati lost in the women's singles semifinal against Sayali Gokhale, Rasika went down fighting against Anita Ohlan in the quarterfinal.
Both the city shuttlers had promised a lot thanks to their brilliant display in the earlier rounds. However, they could not continue their show on the penultimate day of the tournament.
Second seed Arundhati thumped Priyanka Kumawat 21-11, 21-10 in just 22 minutes in the quarters. But later in the day, the 25-year-old city shuttler faltered against third seed Sayali Gokhale. The two-time national champion from Pune won the 45-minute tough encounter 21-19, 22-20.
Sayali will now lock horns with top seed Rituparna Das in the final on Sunday.
After recording an upset win over fifth seed Neha Pandit on Friday, eleventh seed Rasika was expected to beat 14th seed Anita Ohlan. However, Railways shuttler rallied back strongly to outlast teenager city shuttler Rasika 21-16, 10-21, 21-13 in 45 minutes.