Rasika Raje bags double crown; Chirag Shetty triumphs

NAGPUR: A day after turning 18, Rasika Raje presented herself a perfect gift by bagging a double crown in the second Maharashtra State Junior Selection Badminton tournament which concluded at Subhedar Hall on Saturday.
In-form city shuttler swept the U-19 girls category titles by emerging winners in both the singles and doubles.
Second seed Rasika had no trouble in dispatching Vaishnavi Iyer in the U-19 singles final.The fourth seed from Greater Mumbai had shocked top seed Revati Deosthali of Pune in the semifinal on Friday but on Saturday, she found wanting against Rasika, who got great applause from home crowd after winning every point.
Rasika, a trainee of Pullela Gopichand Academy, beat Iyer 21-17, 21-11.
Later, Rasika in partnership with Ahillya Harjani won the doubles but not before getting a tough fight from local lass Vaishnavi Bhale and Vallari Bukane of Thane.
Although, Rasika-Ahillya won in straight games but both the games were fought tooth and nail. Vaishnavi Bhale and Vallari had chances in both the games but somehow could not get the better of Rasika and Ahillya.
Nagpur got another title when Mrunmayi Saoji and Ahillya triumphed in the U-17 girls doubles. The Nagpur-GM pair thumped Aarya More-Pooja Devlekar 21-15, 23-21 in an exciting final.
Karishma Wadkar claimed the U-17 girls' singles crown when her Mumbai Suburban compatriot Kalpita Sawant retired in the second game. The top seed was leading 21-10, 11-1 when Kalpita pulled out citing pain in her legs.
Chirag Shetty justified his immense potential by grabbing both the singles titles in the boys category. The tall Mumbai Suburban shuttler toppled top seed Vighnesh Devlekar of Thane in the U-19 final.
In an all-MS U-17 final, Chirag got the better of Sai Dinesh Reddy to complete double crown.
The five-day long tourney was organized by Nagpur District Badminton Association (NDBA) and sponsored by Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd. Divisional Commissioner, B Venugopal Reddy, Maharashtra Badminton Association (MBA) president, Pradeep Gandhe, MBA secretary, Sunder Shetty, NDBA president, Kunda Vijaykar, secretary Mangesh Kashikar, vice-presidents Amit Bajaj and Shekhar Jadhao distributed the prizes.
RESULTS (ALL FINALS):
(Singles)
U-17 girls: 1-Karishma Wadkar (MS) bt 4-Kalpita Sawant (MS) 21-10, 11-1 (retired).
U-19 girls: 2-Rasika Raje (Nagpur) bt 4-Vaishnavi Iyer (GM) 21-17, 21-11.
U-17 boys: 1-Chirag Shetty (MS) bt Sai Dinesh Reddy (MS) 21-12, 21-19.
U-19 boys: 2-Chirag Shetty (MS) bt 1-Vighnesh Devlekar 21-8, 21-14.
(Doubles)
U-17 girls: 1-Mrunmayi Saoji-Ahillya Harjani (Nagpur-GM) bt Aarya More-Pooja Devlekar (Nashik-MS) 21-15, 23-21.
U-19 girls: 1-Rasika Raje-Ahillya Harjani (Nagpur-GM) bt Vaishnavi Bhale-Vallari Bukane (Nagpur-Thane) 21-19 21-18.
U-17 boys: 1-Nihar Kelkar-Pauras Kulkarni (Thane) bt Akshay Kadam-Vineet Kamble (Satara-Pune) 21-12, 21-13.
U-19 boys doubles: 1-Kabir Kanzarkar-Vighnesh Devlekar (Thane) bt Nihar Kelkar-Pauras Kulkarni 21-18, 21-18.