PANAJI: Goa’s Sandhya Melasheemi alongwith her partner Sangeeta Mari won bronze at the prestigious BWF World Senior badminton championships in Huelva, Spain. Representing India, Sandhya / Sangeeta defeated Sabine Froehlich / Christine Klitsch 21-11, 21-4 in Women’s Doubles 35+ quarter finals before losing to number two seeds and eventual winners Gry Uhrenholt Hermansen / Helle Kæmpegaard from Denmark in a close 21-14, 22-20 score line. Sandhya also reached the Quarter finals in her Women’s Singles event in 35+ age category. Goa’s top pair in Men’s Doubles 65+, Tanaji Sawant and Pradeep Dhond put up a creditable performance, reaching the Quarter finals before being edged out 21-14, 28-26 by Russian pair of Vladimir Koloskov / Igor Ponomarev.
K. A. Aneesh / Vijay Lancy Mascarenhas won Gold for India in MD 45+. Other Indians to win silver were J. B. S. Vidyadhar / Ajit B. Umrani (MD 40+), Nupura GADGIL / Pooja PATIL (WD 35+) and Padmanabha Raghavan / Varun Sharma (MD 35+) while India bagged 5 Bronze medals in all in these World championships.
“Goa Badminton Association congratulates Sandhya Melasheemi, our former State champion, who is now the top player in India in Masters. This is an incredible achievement by the hardworking player who has won several medals in National ranking tournaments including a historic triple Gold at the last Masters Nationals in Jaipur. This is another feather in her cap and yet another proud moment for Goa and India. We congratulate all the other Indian medal winners”, stated GBA Secretary Sandeep Heble in a congratulatory message.
