Team Herald
NAVELIM: Goa’s top ranked player in juniors Nishant Shenai registered a superb fightback to move into the second round of the Yonex Sunrise All India Junior (U19) Ranking Badminton Goa 2022, at Manohar Parrikar indoor stadium here in South Goa on Monday.
Nishant overcame a stiff challenge of Kerala’s Aman Suresh SM 13-21, 30-29, 21-19 in a gruelling 1 hour 14 minute-encounter. He was the only Goan to advance in the singles event from a total of four players, who were in the singles main draw. Goa has three more pairs competing in the doubles events. Nishant looked down and out, losing the first set quite tamely, but then staged a remarkable recovery to win the second set AT 30-29 and take the match to the third. The 3rd set was a similar close affair with fortunes fluctuating after every few points. But with home fans backing him, Nishant held his composure to win the decider at 21-19. While Nishant was scripting an epic comeback, Goa’s number two ranked Anish Kamath went down to Saanidhya Sharma 16-21, 10-21 on the adjacent court.
Earlier, Goa’s Nidhi Desai lost to Tara Shah 5-21, 5-21 in 18 minutes, while Janhavi Mahale went down fighting to Mahnoor Kaur 17-21, 16-21 in 27 minutes in the girls singles. Amongst the big names from Indian badminton women’s circuit, sixth seed and highly-rated Unnati Hooda from Haryana breezed past Pragnya KPS 21-9, 21-10 in 26 minutes in the opening round. Fourth seed Anupama Upadhyaya beat Rujula Ramu 21-15, 21-11. In one of the most exciting tussle in the competition, Samayara Panwar of UP defeated Priyanka Pant of MP 20-22, 21-19, 24-22 in a marathon one-hour nail-biter of a finish.
Earlier in the afternoon, the tournament was inaugurated by the Sports Minister Govind Gaude in the presence of Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, Sports Authority of Goa Executive Director Ajay Gaude, Margao City Chairperson Lyndon Pereira, MMC Chief Officer Rohit Kadam, BAI Observer Mayur Parikh, India International Players Anura Prabhu Desai and Unnati Hooda, among others.
The week long tournament is being hosted by Goa Badminton Association under aegis / collaboration of Badminton Association of India, North Goa District Badminton Association and the Sports Authority of Goa.