Amaira Dhumatkar once again underlined her immense promise, stretching Adeeba Ali (Rajasthan) to the limit before going down in a marathon three-game contest 12-21, 21-15, 26-24 in the girls’ singles Round of 32, on day four of the Yonex-Sunrise U-13 National Ranking Badminton Tournament being held at Manohar Parrikar Indoor stadium at Navelim.
The young Goan, still an U-11 player, also put up a spirited fight in doubles Pre Quarters alongside Shreeya A. Rao (Karnataka) before losing 16-21, 21-19, 21-14 to the Andhra Pradesh pair of Evelyn Chavali and Sri Pravya Ponnaganti. In the boys’ section, Michael Mare’s impressive run ended against Devasis Singh Nameirakpam (Manipur) 21-7, 23-21, as Goa’s campaign drew to a close despite valiant performances.
Top seed Rehaan Dudekula (Andhra Pradesh) continued his dominant march with a 21-12, 21-12 win, while Sumay Tripathi (Uttar Pradesh) caused a major upset by defeating fourth seed Sibi Jero J (Tamil Nadu). Fifth seed Ishmeet Arora (Madhya Pradesh) and sixth seed Ram Charan Teja Akula (Telangana) progressed steadily, while in the girls’ draw, top seed Lyosha Korukonda (Telangana) and third seed Anvi Reddy Gade (Telangana) advanced smoothly.
“Amaira’s performance has been outstanding – competing in the U-13 category at her age and pushing U13 players to the limit shows her tremendous potential. She lost in an extremely tight contest but is certainly one for the future,” said GBA President Manoj Patil, lauding the young Goan’s effort as the tournament heads into its decisive stages.
