NAVELIM: Goa’ Sandhya Melasheemi along with her partner Varun Sharma from Chandigarh who are the top seeds in the tournament have moved into the pre quarter finals, in Mixed Doubles 35+ category at the All India Masters Ranking Badminton Tournament underway at Goa. Several Goan shuttlers progressed into the higher rounds on Day 6 of the 8 day tournament being played at Manohar Parrikar Indoor stadium, Navelim. In Mixed Doubles event, Sandhya / Varun who are the reigning National champions in 35+, beat Shibu G. / Deepana S.N. by a 21-8, 21-8 score line. Earlier, Goa’s Men’s doubles pair of Amit Kakkar / Vishal Vernekar led the way in the morning session with a thrilling 21-10, 15-21, 21-12 win over Surya Rao T.V.R. / Charanjeet Singh Thakur to advance into the round of 16 in Men’s Doubles 40+. Joining them were the Kanji brothers Sandip and Kamlesh who are seeded one in this event, who too advanced into the pre quarter finals in this category with comfortable ease, cruising past Sanjay Gandhi / Prakash Sharma with a 21-10, 21-9 score line. Darwin Barreto / Supriya Pai Kuchelkar continued their fine form by storming into the quarter finals in Mixed Doubles 45+ by registering a hard fought 21-17, 16-21, 21-11 win over Murukan E. V./ Arati Patwardhan.
Also marching ahead were Wilson D’Souza / Vaman Fallary who progressed into the round of 16 in Men’s Doubles 50+ event with a facile 21-5, 21-6 win over Kallol Gupta / Jyotirmoy Roychowdhury. Meanwhile, Goa’s top Women’s doubles pair of Marina Albuquerque / Avita Bandodkar went down fighting to Basanti Bhat Rashmi Thakral, narrowly losing by a 21-19, 18-21, 21-16 score line in Women’s Doubles 50+. In Mixed Doubles 40+, Kamlesh Kanji (Goa) along with his partner Shikha Lamb have progressed to the next round with an emphatic 21-13, 21-15 win over Mahesh Chhabria / Sujaya Shetty. In Men’s Singles 45+, Goa’s Sandip Kanji, Ashok Gautam, Dr Sunil Kavlekar and Arnold Rodrigues have all moved into round 3.
The 8 day event organised by Goa Badminton Association under the aegis of Badminton Association of India is Selection tournament for the prestigious BWF World championships in Spain. The quarters and semi finals will be held on September 25, followed by the finals on September 26.
