The curtains came down on the G.V.M's A.J. de Almeida High School Centennial All India Junior Ranking Badminton Championship, organized by the School Committee in association with Goa Badminton Association and supported by the Directorate of Sports and Youth affairs and the SAG. The Championship finals, which were held at the Ponda Sports Complex, witnessed several keenly contested and exciting matches with emerging faces and quite a few upsets.
Srikanth K. and Ruthvika Shivani G. emerged as the rising stars of the tournament with double crowns each. In the Under 19 Boys Doubles event, Srikanth K. and Hemanagendra Babu T. (1), AP, tamed. Naresh A. and Venkatesh B. (2), AP, 21-13, 21-10 to win the title. The Under 19 Mixed doubles event was a see-saw battle of high intensity and fluctuating fortunes, before K Srikanth and Maneesha K (AP) (3) closed out the third set to upset Venkatesh B and Shivani Ruthvika (AP) (1) 21-16, 23-25, 21-15. Ruthvika Shivani G. (8), AP completely dominated the Under 17 Girls Singles Finals to beat her compatriot Vijetha K. 21-8, 21-9 in a one-sided contest. Later, partnering Poorvisha S. R., KTK, she also emerged victorious in the Under 17 Girls Doubles event, but not before the top seeded pair were made to work hard by Sudha Kalyani D. and Maneesha K., AP, the second seeds. The duo won 21-8, 15-21, 21-11. The Tournament’s top draw Sameer Verma, fresh from his Silver Medal winning pursuits at the recently concluded Asian Youth Championships, set the stage on fire with an aggressive display of top quality badminton to win the Under 19 Boys Singles. Although Pratul Joshi gave him a few jitters in the opening set, the top seed upped his pace in the second set to complete a 22-20, 21-9 win over the second seed. Harsheel Dani (5), Air India, displayed a fine mixture of composure and aggression to register a 21-13, 21-17 win over the wayward and erratic top seed Aditya Joshi, to emerge victorious in the Under 17 Boys Singles event. Meanwhile, there were more upsets as Tanvi Lad (4), AI, def. Gauri Ghate (2), MAH, 21-18 21-15 to emerge Under 19 Girls Singles winner while Shyam Prasad, KER, and Shlokh Ramchandran, MAH, who had earlier knocked out the top seeds continued their giant killing run to defeat the second seeds Harsheel Dani and Aditya Joshi, AI, with a 21-12 21-19 score line and emerge champions in the Under 17 Boys Doubles event. In the Girls under 19 Doubles, top seeds Gauri Ghate, MAH, and Daya Elsa Jacob (1), KER, were in cruise mode as they completed a comprehensive 21-14 21-10 win over Ruthvika Shivani G., AP, and Poorvisha S. R., KTK, seeded second, to emerge winners. Chief Guest Shri Digambar Kamat, Hon’ ble Goa CM, and Home Minister Shri Ravi Naik distributed the prizes in the presence of Mr. Bhaskar Khandeparkar (Organizing Chairman), Mr. Mahesh Shetye (Organizing President), Savita D’ Costa (School Headmistress), Mr. Richard De Souza (GBA President), Mr. Narahar Thakur (GBA Secretary), Chief Referee Vishwas Deswandikar, Sandeep Heble and Sudin Kuvelkar (Tournament coordinators), and others. Event Photographs available at: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2245948906686.132158.1187066172&l=633690dd15 Sandeep Heble Tournament coordinator Goa Badminton Association 9326129171