Qualifiers Nikkita-Aditi enter All India Sub-Junior Ranking badminton semis

NAGPUR: Promising city shuttlers Nikkita Joseph and Aditi Sadhankar stormed into the U-13 girls doubles semifinals in the All India Sub Junior Ranking Badminton tournament at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad on Friday.
Qualifiers Nikkita and Aditi stunned local players Poojitha Goudi Cherla and M Meghana Reddy 21-17, 22-20 in the 25-minute quarterfinal. Earlier in the morning in the pre-quarterfinal, Nikkita and Aditi rallied back strongly to sideline Shrishti Gupta and Ishani Waldia 19-21, 21-19, 21-10 in 45 minutes.
The unseeded pair of Aditi and Nikkita will now clash with top seeds Mansi Singh and Shiwangi Singh for a spot in the final on Saturday. In the U-13 girls singles, qualifier Aditi lost to second seed Tasnim Mir 6-21, 8-21 in 15 minutes in Round 2. In the first round, Aditi had beaten Ayesha Singh 21-16, 21-15 in 25 minutes.
Both Aditi, student of Centre Point School, Dabha and Nikkita, a student of Modern School, Koradi, train under Chetak Khedikar and Prasad Sadhankar. In the U-15 boys singles, fifth seed Rohan Gurbani was upset by Gautam Walia in the third round. Unseeded Walia ousted Rohan Gurbani 17-21, 21-19, 22-20.
Rohan also failed to cross second round in the U-15 boys doubles. Jayant Rana and Arshad Shaik shocked eight seeds Rohan and Bhavin Karamchandani 21-16, 13-21, 21-18.