Malvika shocks top seed Ritika to enter state junior badminton final

NAGPUR: Unseeded Malvika Bansod put up a splendid show while ousting top seed Ritika Thaker in the action-packed U-17 girls singles semi-final in the second Maharashtra Junior State Selection Badminton tournament being played at Nanded on Sunday.
Winner of the first state tourney at Karad earlier this month, Ritika was surprised by her Nagpur counterpart Malvika 21-18, 24-22 in an exciting semifinal.
Southpaw Malvika will now clash with Ramsha Farooqui of Nanded.Local girl Ramsha overcame a stiff challenge from Thane's Mrunmayee Deshpande in three tough games 21-13, 22-24, 21-19 to seal her place in the final.
Overcoming the disappointment of singles, Ritika was on course to repeat her twin doubles titles of Karad. The top seeded pair of Ritika and Simran Singhi thumped Arya Shetty and Janhavi Jagtap of Mumbai Suburban in straight games to emerge U-17 girls' doubles champions.
Ritika and Simran will face the same opponents in the U-19 doubles final on Monday.
The U-19 girls' singles final will be played between Mugdha Agrey and Vaidehi Choudhari. While city shuttler Mugdha trounced Thane's Shalaka Sahasrabudhe, Vaidehi prevailed over Ritika in the semis.
In the U-19 boys' doubles semis, top seeds Sourabh Kerhalkar of Nagpur and Deep Rambhiya of Mumbai Suburban sidelined Devashish Navdikar and Sahil Lokhande of Pune to inch closer to retain their title.
RESULTS
U-17 boys' singles (Quarters): Gaurav Mithe (NGP) bt Aditya Mali (LTR) 21-12, 21-12.
U-17 girls' singles (Quarters): 1-Ritika Thaker (NGP) bt Riya Arolkar (GM) 7-21 (retired); Malvika Bansod (NGP) bt Simran Singhi (MS) 14-21, 21-18, 21-10.
U-19 girls' singles (Quarters): Ritika Thaker (NGP) bt Amarja Kulkarni (AHM) 21-9, 21-12; Shalaka Sahasrabudhe (TH) bt Shruti Chokhandare (NGP) 21-18, 21-16; Mugdha Agrey (NGP) bt Pavitra Somani (NGP) 21-11, 21-18.
U-17 boys' singles (Semis): 1-Aman Sanjay (TH) bt Gaurav Mithe (NGP) 21-16, 21-19.
U-17 girls' singles (Semis): Malvika Bansod (NGP) bt 1-Ritika Thaker (NGP) 21-18, 24-22.
U-19 girls' singles (Semis): 1-Vaidehi Choudhari (NSK) bt Ritika Thaker (NGP) 21-10, 21-13; Mugdha Agrey (NGP) bt Shalaka Sahasrabudhe (TH) 21-17, 21-14.
U-19 boys' doubles (Semis): 1-Sourabh Kerhalkar (NGP)-Deep Rambhiya (MS) bt Devashish Navdikar-Sahil Lokhande (PN) 21-11, 21-13.
U-17 girls' doubles (Final): 1-Ritika Thaker (NGP)-Simran Singhi (MS) bt Arya Shetty-Janhavi Jagtap (MS) 21-12, 21-12.
U-19 girls' doubles (Semis): 1-Ritika Thaker (NGP)-Simran Singhi (MS) bt Archita Malgaonkar-Shivpriya Arora (BOR) 21-7, 21-9.