Veteran Badminton Stars Showcase Skill at G D Birla Memorial Masters
Former international badminton players Aparna Popat and Mangrish Palekar demonstrated that they still possess the prowess from their competitive days, delivering impressive performances at the G D Birla Memorial Masters Inter-Club Badminton Tournament. Promoted by Badminton Gurukul, the event took place on Friday, highlighting the enduring talent of these seasoned athletes.
Senior Women's Doubles Quarterfinals
In the 75+ women's doubles category, the top-seeded duo of Aparna Popat and Naheed Divecha secured a commanding victory over Jaanvi Merani and Sonal Battad with scores of 15-11 and 15-3, advancing to the semifinals. Another thrilling quarterfinal match saw Anagha Deshmukh and Smita Salgaonkar mount a strong comeback after losing the first game, defeating Aanchal Vaswani and Khushboo Sagar 14-16, 15-10, 15-6.
Senior Men's Doubles Round of 16
In the 85+ men's doubles, the top-seeded pair of Mangrish Palekar and Deepak Jaitly dominated their match against Ankit Kabra and Tushar Mangal, winning 30-11 to progress to the next round. Other notable results in this category included victories for Abhishek Sharma and Hemant Duggal, Sidharth Gupta and Sushant Shetty, Hitesh Dua and Vivyek Kanchan, Kartik Shah and Maulik Jasapara, Jaswinder Singh and Kousambi Roy, and Manvendra Kane and Somnath SP.
Professional Singles Quarterfinals
The Professional Singles category saw top seed Manoj Nachanekar and second seed Chetan Bandarkar advance comfortably with straight-game wins. Akshay Kanchawade and Ananda Maskar also registered strong victories to complete the semifinal lineup. Detailed results are as follows:
- Manoj Nachanekar [1] defeated Sanjay Golbare – 15-8, 15-6
- Chetan Bandarkar [2] defeated Rajan Mohan Samant – 15-11, 15-13
- Akshay Kanchawade [4] defeated Shubham More – 13-15, 15-7, 15-9
- Ananda Maskar defeated Rahul Bhuvad – 15-8, 15-12
Professional Doubles Quarterfinals
In the Professional Doubles, all seeded pairs progressed to the next stage. The matches featured intense competition, with some pairs overcoming early setbacks to secure their spots. Key results include:
- Manoj Nachanekar / Rahul Bhuvad [1] defeated Ajay Mali / Anand Maskar – 12-15, 15-4, 15-6
- Kalpesh Padekar / Sanjay Golbare [2] defeated Bharat Ganke / Shailesh Joshi – 15-10, 15-13
- Pranit Bane / Premal Mankar [3] defeated Akshay Kanchawade / Dinesh Golbare – 9-15, 15-7, 15-10
- Chetan Bandarkar / Rajan Samant [4] defeated Jayesh Devlekar / Lalit Bane – 15-8, 15-7
Additional Senior Women's Doubles Results
Other quarterfinal matches in the 75+ women's doubles saw Palkan Dave and Shweta Thakur [2] defeat Dimple Singhania and Lakshmi Iyer 15-3, 15-4, while Kiran Shete and Ramya Venkat beat Ajita Ravindran and Namrata Ghole 15-10, 15-6.
The tournament continues to showcase the high level of competition across various age and skill categories, with veteran players like Popat and Palekar proving that experience and skill remain invaluable on the court.
