Hitavada’s Tanveer, Riddhi, Swaroopam in SF

THE Hitavada’s Tanveer Shaikh, Riddhi Ghiya and Swaroopam Shrivastav won their respective quarter-finals in contrasting fashion to enter the women’s singles semi-final in the 7th Badminton Tournament for Mediapersons under way at Subhedar Hall on Friday.
The meet is being organised by Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur (SJAN) in association with PGTD, Physical Education of RTM Nagpur University. Gracelands has sponsored the tournament while Gurunanak Engineering College is the co-sponsor.
Top seed Tanveer made light work of unseeded Manjushree Joshi of Tarun Bharat. Tanveer dominated the proceedings from the outset to record a 21-7, 21-10 win.
Riddhi held her nerve in crunch situations to overcome stiff resistance from Times of India’s (ToI) Arzoo Gupta. The see-saw match saw fortunes fluctuating by each passing minute. Ultimately, Riddhi won the cliff-hanger 21-18, 19-21, 25-23.
In another quarter-final match, Nishigandha Chafekar conceded her match to Swaroopam after sustaining an injury in the second game. Nishigandha was leading 21-17.
In the men’s doubles, The Hitavada duo of Anupam Soni and Hitesh Limbachia beat Sakal’s Naresh Shelke and Devendra Sadavarti 21-11, 21-14 to enter the semi-finals. Lokmat’s Ashish Jain-Vilas Tijare pair also entered the semi-finals defeating Ranjeet Deshmukh and Manish Sakharwade of ToI 21-11, 21-12. Hitavada’s Nikhil Dixit and Ankeet Ghutke suffered a 21-7, 21-7 defeat at the hands of Suhas Nayse and Madhav Soman of ToI.
In singles, top seed Ashish Jain of Lokmat and Vijay Sant of Indian Express made it to the semi-finals.
The prize distribution function will be held on Saturday at 11.30 pm. Shekhar Jadhao, Chairman, Gracelands, will be the chief guest on the occasion. Navneet Singh Tuli, Director, Gurunanak Engineering College, Dr Yeshwant Patil, co-ordinator, PGTD Physical Education of RTM Nagpur University, Dr Dhananjay Welukar, Director, Department of Physical Education and Sports, RTMNU, will also grace the function.
Other results:
Men’s singles (QF): Suhas Nayse (ToI) bt Hitesh Limbachia (The Hitavada) 21-11, 21-19; Vivek Puradbhat (Indian Express) bt Naresh Shelke (Sakal) 21-14, 21-19.
Men’s doubles (QF): Vijay Sant-Vivek Puradbhat (Indian Express) bt Sunil Warrier-Harshad Pandharipande (ToI) 21-19, 21-17.
Men’s doubles (SF): Suhas Nayse-Madhav Soman (ToI) bt Ashish Jain-Vilas Tijare (Lokmat) 21-18, 21-15.
Women’s singles (QF): Rakhi Chavan (Loksatta) bt Chaitali Deshmukh (ToI) 21-9, 21-9.
Report: The Hitavada