Malvika Bansod clinches Senior State badminton title debut

The junior star shuttler Malvika Bansod has climbed up to the senior level, setting another milestone in her badminton career. She has made a fabulous habit of winning and her fans are on cloud nine. Maharashtra Senior State selection badminton tournament 2018 results are the reason of the joy and vivacity.

Last year, Malvika triumphed her first ever All India Senior Ranking tournament at Bareilly and recently won the Asian School Championship held at Nagpur. The Raojibhai M Patel and Kamleshbhai R Patel Memorial Maharashtra Senior State Selection Badminton Tournament was held at the District Sports Complex at Wardha, which concluded on Monday.

Malvika Bansod wins the Maharashtra Senior State Selection tournament 2018 finals and clinched the debut title of the Women’s Singles Champion in the tournament. In the decider match, Malvika met her senior practice partner, Vaishnavi Bhale and steamrolled her with a 21-18,21-12 in just 40 minutes.

Earlier, in the 90s, the two Mumbai shuttlers, Aparna Popat and Radhika Bose, also triumphed the crown of the senior state titles when both the players were solely 15. Parallel to them, Malvika became the youngest state senior champion, in the past two decades.

The whole month has been wonderful to the 16-year-old star. In the quarterfinals match, held on Sunday, she foiled former India No 1, Neha Pandit and registered an iconic victory in the tournament on Monday after knocking out Vaishnavi in the last match.

However, this journey was not easy, and Malvika had gone through some arduous matches to grab the crown. In a hard-nosed match of an hour and five minutes, with opponent Revati Devasthale on Monday morning, the southpaw won the match 21-18,17-21,21-16. Clearly, the match was oppressive, and none of the players gives up till the end of the decider game. With serenity and calmness, she notched up in the finals.

After relaxing for a few hours, Malvika landed on the court to fly in face of Vaishnavi. Since both the shuttlers receive coaching by Kiran Makode, they are aware of each other’s game and techniques. The first game went on for a long time, and at the end, Malvika conquered the inaugural game at 21-18. Revati, the 22-year-old rival could not stand firm in front of Malvika for a long time and surrendered the game at 21-12.

This was not the first time when Vaishnavi was vanquished by Malvika. Earlier in 2017 All India meet at Bareilly, Malvika she knocked out the senior player in the finals.

As quoted to TOI, Malvika said, she was elated to win her debut senior state title. Although she wasn’t expecting to come across the hurdles that came in her way, as the tournament was progressing, she gained confidence.

She also told that her first match against Revati was the tougher than the finals. Revati is not a player who gives up easily although Malvika played gaudily and overcome her opponent.

In the Women’s Doubles, the extremely talented pair of the shuttlers of Nagpur, MrunmayiSaoji and Manasi Gadgil, clinched their second title in a row. They also outclassed their opponents at Baramati, last month and now in an unbroken sequence, they won at Wardha. In the final match, the pair from Nagpur was drawn against Mrunmayee Deshpande of Thane and Nanded’s Ramsha Farooqui. The Nagpur’s duo thumped the rivals 23-21, 21-15 in just 30 minutes.

However, in the Men’s Doubles, the duo of another city-shuttler, Sourabh Kerhalkar and Pune’s Aniruddha Mayekar was vanquished by the second seeds Pratik Ranade and Deep Rambhiya 14-21, 22-20, 19-21.

Arun Lakhani, the President of Maharashtra Badminton Association, Vice-president Ashish Bajpai, Secretary SA Shetty were present in the final match and during the prize distribution ceremony along with many renowned personalities like Rakesh Patel, the President of Wardha District and Shuttle Badminton Association, Secretary Mohan Shah and Executive committee member Anil Gupta.

Results

Semi finals

Women’s singles:

2-Vaishnavi Bhalebt Shruti Mundada 21-17, 21-12;

MalvikaBansodbtRevatiDevasthale 21-18, 17-21, 21-16

Men’s doubles:

1-Sourabh Kerhalkar-Aniruddha Mayekarbt Aditya Mhatre-Vinayak Dandavate 21-14, 21-16

Finals

Women’s singles:

MalvikaBansodbt 2-Vaishnavi Bhale 21-18, 21-12

Women’s doubles:

1-Mrunmayi Saoji-Manasi GadgilbtMrunmayee Deshpande-Ramsha Farooqui 23-21, 21-15

Men’s doubles:

1-Sourabh Kerhalkar-Aniruddha Mayekar lost to 2-Deep Rambhiya-Pratik Ranade 14-21, 22-20, 19-21.