NAGPUR: After a perfect day on Friday, it was a disastrous day for the city shuttlers as they suffered heart-breaking defeats in the quarterfinals of the Yonex-Sunrise
All India Senior Ranking Badminton
tournament at the PDMBA Sports Complex in Pune on Saturday.
The penultimate day turned out to be a disappointing one for the city trio of
Malvika Bansod
,
Rasika Raje
and
Rashi Lambe
as they could not cross the quarterfinal hurdles despite giving their best.
Even in defeats, Rashi won the hearts of everyone with her lion-hearted performance in two events.
Up against the top seeds and reigning national champions Shikha Gautam (Air India) and K Ashwini Bhat (Karnataka), Rashi and her Delhi partner Kavya Gandhi put up an outstanding show to stretch their opponents to three games.
Qualifiers Rashi and Kavya went down fighting against their higher ranked opponents 11-21, 21-17, 15-21 in 48 minutes.
In the mixed doubles too, unseeded pair of Rashi and Akshan Shetty (Mumbai Suburban) came up with a brave effort against sixth seeds Krishna Prasad and K Ashwini Bhat 14-21, 21-17, 11-21 in 37 minutes.
Wild card entrants Rashi and Akshan, who had knocked out top seeds Vinay Kumar Singh and Ningshi Block Hazarika (CAG) on Friday, won the second game but could not rise to the occasion in the decider.
In the women’s singles too, Nagpur challenge came to an end. Seventh seed Malvika Bansod was pipped by unseeded Purva Barve 6-21, 21-12, 18-21 in a match which lasted for nearly an hour. Pune’s Purva kept her composure in the tense third game to clinch the issue in her favour.
Rasika’s dream run came to an end by another Pune girl Shuruti Mundada. In a match between two left-handers, Shruti won 23-21, 21-18 in 47 minutes.
Nagpur Results (Quarterfinals) Women’s singles: 7-Malvika Bansod lost to Purva Barve 6-21, 21-12, 18-21; Rasika Raje lost to 13-Shruti Mundada 21-23, 18-21.
Women’s doubles: Rashi Lambe-Kavya Gandhi lost to 1-Shikha Gautam-K Ashwini Bhat 11-21, 21-17, 15-21.
Mixed doubles: Akshan Shetty-Rashi Lambe lost to 6-Krishna Prasad-K Ashwini Bhat 14-21, 21-17, 11-21.