Pune: Malvika, Kaushal emerged as champions at VV Natu Memorial All India Badminton Tournament
Pune, 23rd October 2022: Maharashtra’s Malvika Bansod and Kaushal Dharmamer won the women’s and men’s singles titles respectively in the Yonex Sunrise VV Natu Memorial All India Badminton Tournament on Sunday. The tournament was organised by Pune District and Metropolitan Badminton Association at Modern Sports Complex, Shivajinagar.
Malvika, who recently finished as runners-up in the National Games in Gujarat, was considered a strong contender for the title. The top-seeded player justified her ranking by beating unseeded Adita Rao in one hour with a score of 13-21, 21-17, 22-22 in her favour. On the other hand, Gujarat’s Adita had impressed by winning three matches to qualify for the main round. Later, she emerged as a giant killer by knocking out higher-ranked opponents and spectators were expecting similar fireworks in the summit clash.
As expected, Adita started aggressively and with effective use of smashes and clever tactics, she comfortably won the first game. Malvika who was struggling to get into the rhythm made a strong comeback in the second round. Her experience and accurate gameplay gave her an edge against Adita. The third and final game was a close encounter as both players didn’t let their opponent win any easy points. Malvika raised her game at the crucial point when the scores read 20-20 and won successive points to grab the title.
“I was confident of winning and was totally prepared for it. Adita had beaten some strong players in the fray but I just kept that aside and focussed entirely on my game and played to my strength. She is a good player and we faced each other for the first time,” said Malvika after the match.
“Winning a title in the senior category is always special and I enjoy playing in this tournament. It’s very challenging,” she added.
This is Malvika’s fourth title in the senior category and first in the VV Natu Memorial tournament. Earlier, she had participated in 2019 and was knocked out in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, the men’s final turned out to be a one-sided affair for Kaushal as he overpowered Maharashtra’s Rohan Gurbani 21-10, 21-16 in just 36 minutes. In the first game, Kaushal didn’t let Rohan score and comfortably pocketed the lead. Though Rohan tried his best to level the scores, Kaushal kept cool and with good footwork annexed the title.
“This title is memorable for me, as I have learnt a lot from this tournament,” said the Mumbai player after the match.
Double Crown for Khushi
Delhi’s Khushi Gupta claimed a double crown by winning women’s doubles and mixed doubles titles. Khushi paired with Siddharth Elango of Telangana to win the mixed doubles title beating Kerala’s pair of Arvind Suresh and Pavitra Navin 21-19, 21-15. Later she joined Priya Devi Konjengbam of Manipur and the duo defeated Shikha Gautam (Karnataka) and Purvisha S Ram (RBI) 21-17, 17-21, 21-12 in the women’s doubles.
In the men’s doubles, Tamil Nadu’s top-seeded pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar R won the title beating Maharashtra’s Viplav Kuvale and Viraj Kuvale 21-18, 21-16.
The winners were awarded at the hands of Sports Commisioner of Maharashtra Suhas Diwase. PDMBA president Aniruddha Deshpande, secretary Ranjeet Natu, Sushil Jadhav of Lokmanya Multipurpose Co-Op Ltd, Amit Modak of PNG Sons, organising committee secretary Rajiv Bagh, Avinash Jadhav, Sarang Lagu, Dr Sanjay Purandare graced the occasion. A total of Rs5 lakh cash prizes were awarded to the winners. The singles’ champions received Rs48,700 along with a trophy and the runners-up received Rs24,800. The winners in the doubles category received Rs51,300 and the runners-up received Rs24,800.
