GD Birla Memorial Masters Inter-Club Badminton Tournament: Aparna Popat, Mangirish Palekar Show Glimpses Of Old While Advancing

Former internationals Aparna Popat and Mangirish Palekar showed ample glimpses of their prowess in the game, advancing towards the title rounds in two categories in the G D Birla Memorial Masters Inter-Club Badminton Tournament, co-hosted by Bombay Gymkhana and promoted by Badminton Gurukul, here, on Friday.

Popat, in partnership with Shailesh Daga, the top seeds, defeated Manish Hadkar and Sarla Kotak 21-8, 21-9 to enter the final of the 80+ mixed doubles. Popat also made the semi-finals of the of the 75+ women's doubles, in partnership with Naheed Divecha, defeating Tripti Mehta and Trupti Natekar 15-3, 15-4.

Another fancied name in the competition, Mangirish Palekar also made two semi-finals, partnering Vikrant Patwardhan in the 45 men's doubles and then joining Deepak Jaitley in the 85+ men's doubles.

In the 45 doubles Palekar and Patwardhan got the better of Maulik Jasapara and Sachin Vani 18-16,16-14, while Palekar and Jaitley beat Manvendra Kane and Vijesh Nair 15-8, 15-5 in the 85+ category.

Results

WD 75+ - Quarterfinals

Sarita Jethwani/Shweta Thakur beat Ramya Venkat/Tejasvi Pilankar 15-11, 15-11; Palkan Dave [2]/Sonal More beat Archana Mehta/Deepti Agarwal 15-2, 15-4; Aparna Popat [1]/Naheed Divecha beat Triptti Mehta/Trupti Natekar 15-3, 15-4; Farah Trehan/Priya Ambekar beat Anagha Deshmukh/Namrata Ghole 15-2, 15-9

MD 85+ - Quarterfinals

Deepak Jaitly [1]/Mangirish Palekar beat Manvendra Kane/Vijesh Nair 15-8, 15-5; Aditya Swamy/Sandeep Mohan beat Kartik Shah/Maulik Jasapara 15-12, 15-6, 15-10; Nigel D'Sa/Rohan Radhakrishnan beat Manish Hadkar/Vivaswan Nimkar 15-9, 15-13; Raveesh Mohan [2]/Sushant Shetty beat Sachin Mandlik/Somnath Sonawane 15-9, 15-4

XD 80+- Semifinals

Shailesh Daga [1]/Aparna Popat beat Manish Hadkar/Sarla Kotak 21-8, 21-9;

XD 80+ - Quarterfinals

Shailesh Daga [1]/Aparna Popat beat Shikha Lamb/Savio Lamb 15-3, 15-6; Shivkiran Thakur [2]/Naheed Divecha beat Vikas Shetty/Preet Kaur 17-15, 15-9; Manish Hadkar/Sarla Kotak beat Dhiren Maurya/Anagha Deshmukh 15-13, 15-12; Sandeep Mohan/Sonal Jagdale More beat Kaldor Salazar/Tejasvi Sawant 15-5, 15-9

MD 45 - Quarterfinals

Mangirish Palekar [1]/Vikrant Patwardhan beat Maulik Jasapara/Sachin Vani 18-16, 16-14; Miitesh Arora/Vikas Shetty beat Rajesh Bhanushali/Shivkiran Singh Thakur 15-9, 15-7; Gautam Laud/Sandeep Mohan beat Bimaldeep Singh/Gautam Narayan 15-8, 15-13; Ayaz Bilawala [2]/Shailesh Daga beat Faisal Siddiqui/Rajan Samant 11-15, 15-7, 15-7