Nagpur: Thursday turned out to be the day of Nishika Gokhe and Shourya Madavi . The Nagpur shuttlers entered the U-17 girls singles, doubles, and mixed doubles semifinals with their partners to assure themselves a hat-trick of medals in the Maharashtra inter-district badminton championship at Ahmednagar. While Nishika and Shourya made it to all three semifinals, Ridheema Sarpate and Rutva Sajwan sealed their place in a couple of semifinals in the U-17 girls and boys section to assure themselves twin medals.
In the U-15 boys and girls section, Nagpur’s medal hopes were washed away after Aditya Yaul and Fizza Akbani lost their respective pre-quarterfinal and quarterfinal contests. In the U-15 boys doubles section, Sairaj Nayse assured Nagpur a medal when he paired up with Satya Chauhan to get the better of Pune duo Kapil Jagdale and Raghavendra Yadav in an exciting quarterfinal 25-23, 21-16. Nagpur’s challenge in the U-17 boys singles event came to an early end after Sparsh Kawale, Pranay Gadewar and Rutva Sajwan failed to qualify for the semifinals.
The trio of Nishika, Shourya and Ridheema, however, gave Nagpur shuttlers a reason to cheer after they confirmed their last four berth in the U-17 girls singles section. Of the four semifinalists, Nishika, Shourya and Ridheema sealed the three places with victories in contrasting fashion. RESULTS: U-15 (Boys Singles, PQF): 4-Aayush Adey bt Aditya Yaul 15-5, 15-7; Girls Singles (QF): 1-Yashwi Patel bt FIzza Akbani 21-13, 21-17; .
