Ritika, Sourabh in All India Junior badminton semis; Malvika, Mugdha lose

NAGPUR: Ritika Thaker and Sourabh Kerhalkar kept the Nagpur flag flying in the 16th Union Bank All India Junior (U-17 and U-19) Ranking Badminton tournament at Bangalore on Saturday.
Sixteen-year-old Ritika entered the last four in both the U-17 and U-19 girls doubles with her Mumbai partner Simran Singhi.
However, in the U-17 girls singles quarterfinal, Ritika went down fighting against Gayatri Pullela Gopichand 17-21, 21-18, 17-21.
Sourabh Kerhalkar and Diska Choudhary advanced to semis in the U-19 mixed doubles. In the quarterfinal match, fourth seeded pair of Sourabh and Diksha outclassed Manasseh and S Akshaya 25-23, 21-15.
Sourabh, however, had to bow out in the U-19 boys doubles. In an exciting quarters, seventh seeds Sourabh and Deep Rambhiya (Mumbai) lost to top seeds Swarnaraj Bora (Delhi)-Sai Pavan Karri (Telangana) in three tough games.
Third seed Malvika Bansod also faced a heart-shattering defeat in the U-17 girls singles quarterfinal. Seventh seed -Samiya Imad Farooqui ousted Malvika in three games.
The talented southpaw also lost a close U-19 girls singles quarters against Vaidehi Choudhari.
Unseeded Malvika Bansod squandered away a one-game advantage to lose against No. 8 seed Vaidehi Choudhari of Nashik 21-14, 11-21, 19-21.
Similarly, another promising city shuttler Mugha Agrey also went down fighting in the U-19 girls singles.
Eleventh seed Mugdha Agrey gave a big scare to top seed Aakarshi Kashyap of Chhattisgarh before going down fighting 21-19, 8-21, 15-21.
The semifinals will be played on Sunday morning, while the finals will be held later in the day.
NAGPUR RESULTS
U-17 girls singles (PQF): 4-Ritika Thaker bt Gargi Joshi 21-18, 21-9; 3-Malvika Bansod bt Medha Shashidharan 21-11, 21-16.
(QF): 4-Ritika Thaker lost to Gayatri Pullela Gopichand 17-21, 21-18, 17-21; 3-Malvika Bansod lost to 7-Samiya Imad Farooqui 15-21, 21-17, 20-22.
U-19 girls singles (PQF): Malvika Bansod bt Keyura Mopati 21-18, 21-14; 11-Mugdha Agrey lost to 1-Aakarshi Kashyap 21-19, 8-21, 15-21.
(QF): Malvika Bansod lost to 8-Vaidehi Choudhari 21-14, 11-21, 19-21.
U-17 girls doubles (PQF): 1-Ritika Thaker-Simran Singhi bt A Abhilasha-K Bhargavi 21-13, 21-12.
(QF): 1-Ritika Thaker-Simran Singhi bt 8-Deethya-Aanchal Dhawan 21-13, 21-14.
U-19 girls doubles (PQF): Ritika Thaker-Simran Singhi bt 6-Srishti Jupudi-R Thanushree 21-13, 21-12.
(QF): 1-Ritika Thaker-Simran Singhi bt Akshita Bhandari-Shreya Bose 21-16, 21-19.
U-17 boys singles (PQF): 16-Rohan Gurbani lost to Sai Charan Koya 17-21, 19-21.
U-19 boys doubles (PQF): 7-Sourabh Kerhalkar-Deep Rambhiya bt B Sai Rohit-Akash Chandran 22-20, 21-12.
(QF): 7-Sourabh Kerhalkar-Deep Rambhiya lost to 1-Swarnaraj Bora-Sai Pavan Karri 21-14, 18-21, 18-21.
U-19 mixed doubles (PQF): 4-Sourabh Kerhalkar-Diksha Choudhary bt Deep Rambhiya-Riya Arolkar 21-19, 12-21, 21-18.
(QF): 4-Sourabh Kerhalkar-Diksha Choudhary bt Manasseh-S Akshaya 25-23, 21-15.