Nagpur shuttler Rohan storms into final, Ritika-Simran in title clash

NAGPUR: Rudra Rane caused a big upset by knocking out top seed Aarya Deshpande to storm into the U-13 girls singles final in the Maharashtra Sub-Junior State Selection Badminton tournament at the Divisional Sports Complex in Parbhani on Friday.
Fourth seed Rudra shocked title favourite Aarya in straight games. Twelve-year Mumbai girl dominated the 29-minute encounter against Satara’s Aarya.Rudra, who trains under Jitesh Padukone in Mumbai, will clash with second seed Janhavi Kanitkar in the final on Saturday.
Janhavai, a trainee of Pune-based Nikhil Kanetkar Badminton Academy, overcame third seed Hrissha Dubey in the other semifinal.
The U-13 boys singles final will be played between top seed Varun Dave of Mumbai and second seed Tanishq Saxena.
In another big upset, fourth seed Malvika Bansod was beaten by sixth seed Simran Singhi in the U-15 girls singles semis. The tall Mumbai teenager surprised Nagpur’s southpaw Malvika in three tough games. Simran, who trains under Uday Pawar, won the first game narrowly at 21-19. Malvika bounced back nicely to claim the second game quite easily at 21-15. However, Simran proved too strong for Malvika in the decider (21-12) to win the match in 48 minutes. Simran will now face Nashik’s Smit Toshniwal in the final.
Rohan Gurbani overcame a mid-match slump to brush aside the challenge of Pune’s Kedar Bhide in the U-15 boys singles semis. Top seed Rohan of Nagpur won in three thrilling games. The thirteen-year-old Rohan, a student of Centre Point School, Katol Road, will square off against Prathamesh Halankar of Pune for the crown.
Top seeded pair of Ritika Thaker and Simran Singhi quelled the spirited challenge from fourth seeds Mrunmayee Deshpande and Ramsha Farooqui 21-14, 22-20 to book their expected final berth in the U-15 girls doubles category. City’s Ritika, a student of Chanda Devi Saraf School, and her Mumbai Suburban partner Simran will face third seeds Sanashree Dhamdhere and Tanishka Deshpande of Pune in the final.
RESULTS (Semifinals)
U-13 girls singles: 4-Rudra Rane bt 1-Aarya Deshpande 21-14, 21-11; 2-Janhavi Kanitkar bt 3-Hrissha Dubey 21-13, 21-19. U-15 girls singles: 1-Smit Toshniwal bt 7-Saie Nandurkar 21-15, 21-14; 6-Simran Singhi bt 4-Malvika Bansod 21-19, 15-21, 21-12. U-13 boys singles: 1-Varun Dave bt Varun Kapur 21-17, 19-21, 21-12; 2-Tanishq Saxena bt Nachiket Dalwale 21-15, 21-8. U-15 boys singles: 1-Rohan Gurbani bt 6-Kedar Bhide 21-18, 17-21, 21-12; Prathamesh Halankar bt Tanishq Saxena 21-14, 21-12. U-15 girls doubles: 1-Ritika Thaker-Simran Singhi bt 4-Mrunmayee Deshpande-Ramsha Farooqui 21-14, 22-20; 3-Sanashree Dhamdhere-Tanishka Deshpande bt 2-Aditi Mahajan-Siddhi Mahajan 21-18, 21-17.