Team Herald
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PANJIM: Ayaan Shaikh, Karan Dhavaskar, Advait Balakrishnan, Anuj Vernekar, Nishant Shenai and Yash Desai secured their spots in the men’s singles quarter-finals, at the ongoing BPS State Badminton Ranking Tournament, at the Manohar Parrikar Indoor Stadium, Navelim.
In men’s singles pre-quarters, Ayaan Shaikh outplayed Sahil Sayed 21-13, 21-17 to advance, while Karan Dhavaskar, seeded third, overcame Sudhanva Udupa 22-20, 21-5 in a closely contested match. Another third seed, Advait Balakrishnan, secured his place in the next round by defeating Soham Mandrekar 21-13, 21-11.
In other matches, Anuj Vernekar outplayed Floyd Araujo 21-17, 21-18, Nishant Shenai cruised past Roshit Chatur 21-11, 21-7, and Yash Desai triumphed over Umakant Sarge 21-11, 12-21, 21-5 in a hard-fought three-game encounter. Rahul Deswal and Sushil Nayak, the two top ranked players, were the other two into the quarters through direct seeding.
Following are the pre-quarterfinals results (men’s doubles): Floyd Araujo and Fredrick Fernandes bt Glenn Gomes and Vinayak R 21-10, 21-18. Ashmeet Parsekar and Rudra Phadte bt Sahil Sayed and Soham Mandrekar 21-14, 21-15.
Chinmay Kamat and Divyesh Shirsat bt Chirag Mahale and Shane D'Souza 21-16, 21-18. Karan Dhavaskar and Sanath Kamat bt Anup Kushwaha and Owais Tahasildar w.o. Ayaan Shaikh and Rahul Deswal bt Sushil Nayak and Yash Kunkalienkar (4) 21-15, 26-24.
Aryaman Saraf and Suraj Lama bt Kamlesh Kanji and Sandip Kanji (2), , 18-21, 21-12, 21-12. Dattaprasad Parab and Manish Pankhaniya bt Ritesh Borkar and Rutav Kanabar 21-14, 21-17.
Vivaan Kamat and Yash Desai (2) bt Advait Balakrishnan and Parteek Mahajan 13-21, 21-17, 21-18.