Unseeded Gowtham K Hari of Mumbai Suburban produced a spirited performance to overcome a first-game loss and advance to the Under-19 boys singles Round of 32 at the Yonex-Sunrise Maharashtra U-19 State Badminton Selection tournament. He defeated Pune's Atharva Goswami 10-15, 15-9, 15-8 in a hard-fought contest. The tournament is organized by GMBA, promoted by Badminton Gurukul, and hosted by Willingdon Sports Club.
Seeded players progress smoothly
In other matches of the same age category, seeded players advanced with relative ease. Top seed Arjun Alugvelli, also representing Mumbai Suburban, cruised past Akola's Adarsh Panjwani 15-7, 15-9. Fourth seed Pranay Gadewar of Nagpur defeated Raigad's Mukesh Yadav 15-9, 15-5. Fifth seed Avadhut Kadam of Pune beat Jayden Noronha of Mumbai Suburban 15-3, 15-5, while ninth seed Yash Gaurav Sinha of Thane overcame Hrugved Bhosale of Pune 15-3, 15-4.
Eighth seed Nikshep Katre of Pune edged past Sumit Made of Latur 15-13, 15-7, and thirteenth seed Aayush Adey of Pune defeated Pragnay Shinde of Raigad 15-9, 15-10.
Girls singles: Seeds dominate
The Under-19 girls singles matches also saw seeded players advance to the Round of 32 with straightforward wins. Third seed Prakriti Sharma of Raigad defeated Thane's Meemansha Shresh 15-4, 15-5, while fifth seed Navya Ranka of Pune beat Ananya Rane of Mumbai Suburban 15-10, 15-4. Simran Bakare of Pune overcame Prisha Shah of Mumbai Suburban 15-3, 15-7, and Pranjal Shinde of Raigad defeated Anvi More of Thane 15-8, 15-6. Ketaki Thite of Mumbai Suburban edged past Soyara Shelar of Pune 15-11, 15-10.
Mixed doubles Round of 32
In the mixed doubles category, Prasanna Manna and Anannya Shinde beat Soham Gode and Ninoshka Deodikar 15-7, 15-10. Satya Chauhan and Manasvi Chauhan defeated Aayan Kapadia and Khushi Pahwa 15-12, 13-15, 15-13. Gaurang Katkar and Niranjanee Deshpande overcame Sarthak Kulkarni and Tanishka Patil 15-10, 15-11. Apurv Davadate and Safa Shaikh rallied to beat Raghavendra Yadav and Sharvari Survase 9-15, 15-12, 15-12.
Day 2 of the tournament witnessed intense competition across all categories as players vied for top honors in this prestigious state-level event.
