Sourabh-Ritika, Rege enter All India Senior Ranking Badminton second round

NAGPUR: Creating a unique record, upcoming city shuttler Ritika Thaker qualified for the main draw in all the three events she took part at the VV Natu Memorial All India Senior Ranking badminton tournament in Pune on Wednesday.
In the final qualifying round, Nagpur pair Ritika and Sourabh Kelhalkar rallied back strongly to oust Varun Sharma and Muskaan Taya 19-21, 21-7, 21-12. After losing the first game, Sourabh-Ritika got their act together to win the next two games comfortably.
In the women's singles, Ritika had little difficulty to beat Rini Tandel as the 15-year-old won 21-14, 21-11.In the women's doubles Ritika and Simran Singhi (Mumbai Suburban) had to dig in deep to win an hour-long battle over 4th seeded Riya Mookerjee and Karishma Wadkar 21-19, 15-21, 25-23.
Later in the evening in the mixed doubles first round of main draw, qualifier Ritika and Sourabh thumped Pune pair Apoorva Javadekar and Revati Devasthale 21-16, 21-14 to seal their place in the second round.
In the women's doubles first round, Ritika-Simran will face senior Indian team doubles pair K Maneesha and N Sikki Reddy, while in the women’s singles first round, Ritika plays 5th seeded Revati Devasthale.
Other city player Mrunmayi Saoji and Pauras Kulkarni lost the final qualification round in the mixed doubles to Chaitnaya Reddy and Gauri Asija 8-21, 18-21.
Mrunmayi also failed in the women's singles as she lost her first qualifying round against Ira Sharma 22-24, 19-21 on Tuesday.
Gaurav Rege continued his good form to qualify for the main draw in the men's singles. The Nagpur district champion got a walkover against Ansal Yadav. Gaurav will now take on his practice partner at Uday Pawar Badminton Academy, Anand Pawar, on Thursday.
Sarang Lakhanee went down fighting against Aditya Prakash 21-15, 8-21, 6-21 in the men's singles first round.
Senior Nagpur players Arundhati Pantawane, Rasika Raje, Vaishnavi Bhale and Mugdha Agrey will be seen in action on Thursday.