Nagpur’s Ritika & UP’s Sonali shine in Slovenia

Nagpur: City's doubles specialist Ritika Thaker combined with Sonali Singh of Uttar Pradesh and made her mark in the Slovenia Open international badminton tournament.In their debut as a new pair, the Nagpur, Uttar Pradesh duo, after qualifying for the main draw, surprised some higher-ranked opponents and went down fighting in the quarterfinals of the women's doubles event on Sunday.Up against the seasoned campaigners Debora Jille and Meerte Loos from the Netherlands, the Ritika-Sonali duo went down fighting in an exciting quarterfinal 13-21, 22-24.Earlier in the pre-quarterfinal, the Nagpur, UP pair surprised the fourth-seeded duo of Chan Han and Jui Yi Hsu from Chinese Taipei 21-16, 21-12 to hog the limelight.In the opening round, after qualifying for the main draw, Ritika and Sonali took time to settle into their groove. After losing the first game 16-21, the India pair prevailed over the higher-ranked Ukrainian duo of Maria Koriagina and Yaroslava Vantsaro 21-11, 21-15.Both Ritika and Sonali took many positives from their campaign in the Slovenia Open and will now aim to bring home a medal when they participate in the forthcoming Austria and Denmark Open, respectively. Both Ritika and Sonali practice at the Arundhati Arun Badminton Academy under the guidance of Arun Vishnu. tnn