Mumbai : Top seeded Nigel D’sa of Greater Mumbai survived a scare as he fought hard to beat Wasim Sheikh of Pune 15-10, 10-15, 15-10 to enter the men’s singles pre-quarter final in the Maharashtra senior state selection badminton tournament conducted by Sports United under the auspices of Maharashtra Badminton Association (MBA) at the Chembur Gymkhana.
D’sa won the first game but, lost the second against the determined Wasim. Nigel then held his nerves to come back strongly and win the battle. In the other matches second seeded Abhishek Kulkarni of Pune defeated Shripad Pardeshi of Sangli 15-10, 15-13 while, the third seed, Viplav Kuvale of Greater Mumbai won 15-10, 15-12 against Harsh Jagdhane of Mumbai. Akshay Raut, Gaurav Rege, Abdul Bari and Vinayak Dandawate registered wins to progress to the pre-quarters. In the men’s doubles, top seeded Abhishek Kulkarni and Nishad Dravid and the second seeded Akshay Raut and Prasad Shetty outplayed their respective opponents.
