Mrunmayi, Ritika in line for double crown at Junior State Badminton Championship

NAGPUR: City’s two of the most promising shuttlers Mrunmayi Saoji and Ritika Thaker are in line to bag double crown in the Maharashtra Junior (U-17 and U-19) State Badminton Championship at the Dayanand College Indoor Stadium in Latur on Saturday.
The sixth and penultimate day’s play was also dominated by the Nagpur shuttlers as they reached five finals out of ten scheduled on Sunday.
Fourteen-year-old Ritika entered both the U-17 and U-19 girls doubles finals with her partner Simran Singhi of Mumbai Suburban.
Eighteen-year-old Mrunmayi, seeded No. 1 in the U-19 girls singles, stormed into the U-19 singles and U-19 mixed doubles finals.
Another talented city shuttler Sourabh Kerhalkar booked his place in the U-17 boys doubles title clash with her Thane partner Deep Rambhiya.
Ritika, a student of CDS School, ousted Saie Nandurkar 21-11, 21-17 in the U-19 girls singles quarters but lost semis against her practice partner Mrunmayi 13-21, 21-18, 12-21. In the U-17 singles, Ritika lost against Purva Barve 18-21, 12-21.
Friday’s star performers Gaurav Mithe and Mugdha Agre did well but failed to reach the finals.
RESULTS (Semifinals)
U-17 girls singles: Rashi Lambe bt Simran Singhi 21-11, 21-13.
U-19 girls singles: 1-Mrunmayi Saoji bt Ritika Thaker 21-12, 18-21, 21-11; Mugdha Agre lost to 3-Purva Barve 6-21, 21-19, 17-21.
U-17 girls doubles: 1-Ritika Thaker-Simran Singhi bt Pooja Devlekar-Riya Arolkar 21-23, 21-16, 21-13.
U-19 girls doubles: 1-Ritika Thaker-Simran Singhi bt Sanashree Dhamdhere-Tanishka Deshpande 21-16, 21-13; Mrunmayi Saoji-Akshaya Warang bt 2-Aditi Kute-Radhika Dagaonkar 21-14, 21-15.
U-19 mixed doubles: 3-Pauras Kulkarni-Mrunmayi Saoji lost to 1-Aman Farogh Sanjay-Riya Arolkar 19-21, 21-19, 15-21.
U-17 boys doubles: 2-Sourabh Kerhalkar-Deep Rambhiya bt 4-Soham Navandar-Soham Patil 21-12, 11-4 (Retired).
Final line-up
U-17 girls singles: Rashi Lambe vs 4-Purva Barve
U-19 girls singles: 1-Mrunmayi Saoji vs 4-Purva Barve.
U-17 girls doubles: 1-Ritika Thaker-Simran Singhi vs Sanashree Dhamdhere-Tanishka Deshpande.
U-19 girls doubles: 1-Ritika Thaker-Simran Singhi vs Mrunmayi Saoji-Akshaya Warang.
U-17 boys doubles: 2-Sourabh Kerhalkar-Deep Rambhiya vs 1-Nikhil Wadekar-Sai Dinesh Reddy.
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