Nagpur's Rashi helps Thane triumph in Inter-District Badminton Championship

NAGPUR: Nagpur’s loss is Thane’s gain. A spectacular performance by city shuttler Rashi Lambe propelled Thane to emerge champions in the Maharashtra Junior (U-17 and U-19) Inter-District Badminton Championship at the Dayanand College Indoor Stadium in Latur on Thursday.
The fourteen-year-old Rashi won two crucial matches as Thane rallied back from 0-2 down to clinch the title with 3-2 victory in the U-19 team championship final.
Rashi won the girls doubles and mixed doubles under tremendous pressure to help her adopted district team pocket the gold medal.
A Standard IX student of Tapovan School in Nagpur, Rashi trained all these years under Kiran Makode at the VBA Hall, Shankar Nagar. To improve further, Rashi’s parents decided to shift her to Thane few months ago where the promising teenager has been practicing at the Syed Modi Thane Badminton Academy.
Chief coach of the Thane Academy, Shrikant Vad, is overwhelmed with the performance of Rashi. “Rashi has done a remarkable job at Latur. When we were down and almost out, she produced stunning performance to win back-to-back matches. It is not easy to win against national champion Purva Barve but Rashi lived up to the expectations to help Thane win a tense final,” Vad told TOI on Thursday.
Rashi, who is equally good in singles too, is jubilant after the win. “In the final we lost the first two singles and had to win the remaining three matches. I had to play the girls doubles and mixed doubles (fourth and fifth matches). I am glad I manage to win both the matches. I and Sai Gulhane won girls doubles to make the tie score 2-2. In the decider, I and Aman combined well to win the mixed doubles,” said Rashi.
It was a double heartbreak for Pune as they lost the U-17 team championship too with similar 2-3 margin.
Both the U-17 and U-19 Nagpur district teams lost in the quarterfinals against Nashik 0-3.
RESULTS (Finals)
U-19: Thane bt Pune 3-2 (Aman Fafogh Sanjay lost to Vineet Kamble 14-21, 21-19, 17-21; Sai Gulhane lost to Purva Barve 16-21, 6-21; Nihar Kelkar-Pauras Kulkarni bt Aniruddha Mayekar-Narendra Gogawale 21-14, 21-18; Rashi Lambe-Sai Gulhane bt Purva Barve-Tanishka Deshpande 21-17, 21-14; Aman Fafogh Sanjay-Rashi Lambe bt Narendra Gogawale-Purva Barve 21-11, 21-17).
U-17: Mumbai Suburban bt Pune 3-2 (Sai Dinesh Reddy lost to Arya Bhivpathaki 19-21, 21-18, 15-21; Simran Singhi lost to Purva Barve 12-21, 14-21; Akshan Shetty-Sai Dinesh Reddy bt Aniruddha Mayekar-Arya Bhivpathaki 21-15, 21-19; Kalpita Sawant-Simarn Singhi bt Purva Barve-Tanishka Deshpande 21-15, 21-11; Sai Dinesh Reddy-Simarn Singhi bt Arya Bhivpathaki-Purva Barve 21-14, 21-19).
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