Rege, Lambe emerge Nagpur district badminton champions

NAGPUR: Pre-tournament hot favourites Gaurav Rege and Rashi Lambe lived up to their form and reputation to emerge men's and women's singles champions respectively in the Goel Ganga Group Nagpur District Badminton Championship at the DNC Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
Top seed Rege halted the giant-killing run of unseeded Varad Gajbhiye to retain his men's singles title. The 21-year-old Rege overcame the tough challenge of Gajbhiye 21-15, 21-18 in a well-contested final.It was the third successive final for Hislop College student Rege and second title in-a-row.
Rashi dominated the women's singles final against Priyanka Pillay as the 15-year-old emerged perhaps the youngest champion in the Nagpur history. Rashi, a Standard X student, humbled Priyanka 21-5, 21-17 to clinch her maiden senior title.
Both Rege and Rashi later added doubles title to their kitty to finish with double crown. Fourth seeds Rege and Pratik Bode shocked top seeds and last year's winners Ajay Dayal and Jayendra Dhole in the men's doubles summit clash.
The new pair of Yash Pundlik and Rashi rallied back superbly to down Varad Gajbhiye and Priyanka Pillay 12-21, 21-16, 21-10.
In the U-19 boys doubles final, second seeds Divij Shah and Gandhar Nawale thumped Anuj Kanetkar and Vinay Makode 21-18, 21-17 to claim the title.
The U-10 boys final will be played between Sahil Jalgaonkar and top seed Aditya Gadge. While Sahil stunned second seed Om Agrawal 21-10, 21-12, Aditya prevailed over Jeeva Pillai 21-9, 21-3.
In the U-10 girls singles semis, top seed Krisha Soni beat Manvi Funde 21-11, 21-19, while second Gauri Rajhan got the better of Nishka Barthwal 21-12, 21-8.
Chaitali Nayse made it to the quarter-finals in both U-15 girls singles and U-17 girls singles but could not enter semis.
RESULTS
Men's singles (final): 1-Gaurav Rege bt Varad Gajbhiye 21-15, 21-18.
Women's singles (final): Rashi Lambe bt Priyanka Pillay 21-5, 21-7.
Men's doubles (final): 4-Gaurav Rege-Pratik Bode bt 1-Ajay Dayal-Jayendra Dhole 21-13, 21-19.
Mixed doubles (final): 1-Yash Pundlik-Rashi Lambe bt Varad Gajbhiye-Priyanka Pillay 12-21, 21-16, 21-10.
U-19 boys doubles (final): 2-Divij Shah-Gandhar Nawale bt Anuj Kanetkar-Vinay Makode 21-18, 21-17.
U-17 boys singles (QF): Hriday Deshmukh bt Kanad Yerpude 21-10, 21-12; Sifat Arora bt 4-Om Ghode 22-20, 12-21, 21-16; Gandhar Nawale bt 3-Rahul Bawankar 22-20, 21-19; 2-Samarjit Panday bt Anshul 21-13, 21-9.
U-17 girls singles (QF): 1-Livia Fernandez bt Anjali Kshirsagar 21-8, 23-21; Palak bt 4-Chaitali Nayse 21-17, 21-13; Pavitra Somani bt 3-Shruti Chokhandre 21-19, 13-21, 21-10; 2-Arya Anchalwar bt Devika Kawale 21-12, 21-12.
U-15 girls singles (QF): 1-Livia Fernandez bt Chaitali Nayse 21-14, 21-18; 4-Isha Londhekar bt Shalomi Johnson 14-21, 21-15, 21-18; 3-Aditi Sadhankar bt Sophia Simon 23-21, 21-9; 2-Arya Anchalwar bt Nikkita Joseph 21-9, 21-9.
U-13 boys singles (QF): 1-Devesh Jena bt Arav Fernandez 21-17, 22-20; 3-Sarthak Pakhmode bt Yugandhar Deo 21-18, 14-4 (Ret); 4-Shashank Kulal bt Ojas Gedam 21-9, 21-13; 2-Siddhant Bawankar bt Arjun Voditel 21-9, 21-7.
U-10 boys singles (SF): 1-Aditya Gadge bt Jeeva Pillai 21-9, 21-3; Sahil Jalgaonkar bt 2-Om Agrawal 21-10, 21-12.
U-10 girls singles (SF): 1-Krisha Soni bt Manvi Funde 21-11, 21-19; 2-Gaurai Rajhan bt Nishka Barthwal 21-12, 21-8.