Mumbai: NSCI 'A' team, powered by a brilliant team effort, took down a strong PM Mafatlal team 2-1 to advance to the quarter-finals of the ongoing Motiram Club (for men), Ullal Cup (women) and Kanji Memorial Cup (for juniors) Inter-Club badminton tournament, organised by Badminton Gurukul and hosted by NSCI at their new badminton courts on Friday.
Meet Shah, who has been a saviour for PM Mafatlal, paired up with Aakash Shah to face Yash Golecha and Rishabh Ghia of NSCI in the first tie. The pair gave a solid start to PM Mafatlal as they took the first set with a comfortable 21-16 margin. Yash and Rishabh stepped up, matching their opponents in skill and speed to take the second game 21-17 and level the scores. Yash and Rishabh kept the pressure on in the third game and snatched points in the crucial moments to take the game by 21-18In the proces gave NSCI a winning start.
In the second doubles match, Nikhil Mansukhani and Romit Nagpal of NSCI started well against the pair of Harsh Gala and Jatan Shah, there was nothing separating the pairs as they fought head to head for the majority of the match before Harsh and Jatan’s smart play helped them sneak a 23-21 victory in the 1st game.
Nikhil and Romit learnt from their first game loss and made fewer errors to take the the two games that followed and NSCI 'A' a place in the last eight. A dejected Meet Shah came back on the court and took down Diyan Jain 21-15, 21-17 to avoid a clean sheet.
Results: Motiram Cup: CCI 'B' bt P J Hindu Gymkhana 2-0 (Y Tiwan & J Menon bt V Patwardhan & M Shah 21-16, 21-9; Y Tiwan bt M Shah 21-15, 21-11); Matunga Gymkhana bt Andheri Sports Complex 2-0 (S Raut & V Kuvale bt S Kshatriya & N Maurya 21-8, 21-1; V Kuvale bt N Maurya 21-19, 14-21, 21-11); Khar Gymkhana 'A' bt Bombay Gymkhana 'B' 2-0 (A Sawant & P Suryamurthy bt J Agarwal & G Ashra 21-12, 21-12; V Majumdar bt B Singh 21-3. 21-8); NSCI 'A' bt PM Mafatlal 2-1 (Y Golecha & R Ghia bt M Shah & A Shah 16-21, 21-17, 21-18; N Mansukhani & R Nagpal bt H Gala & J Shah 21-23, 21-19, 21-14; M Shah bt Diyan Jain 21-15, 21-7)
- FPJ Sports Desk
