Krisha rallies to beat Aasavari in Nagpur district sub-junior badminton tourney

NAGPUR: Krisha Soni is seeded sixth but almost two years younger to Aasavari Khandekar. They play almost daily during practice sessions and it was Aasavari who wins seven out of ten times. However, on Saturday at the Dhanwate National College during the opening day of the Nagpur District Sub-Junior Open Badminton tournament, Krisha surprised Aasavari in thrilling three games to enter the U-13 girls singles pre-quarterfinals.
In an exciting encounter, Krisha was leading 14-12 in the first game but lost three points in a row to concede the game to Aasavari. The battle was intense between the two young girls in the second game with both fighting hard for each point. Krisha kept her nerves intact to claim the second game 15-12. The decider was absorbing and graceful southpaw Aasavari looked in control initially but she made few errors which proved costly for her. The dimunitive Krisha won the decider 15-11 to leave Aasavari in tears on the court.
In the U-10 girls singles, top seed Vaishnavi Sharma, second seed Nishika Gokhe, Kritika Iyer and Nandini Vaidya sailed into the semifinals. In other category matches there were not any upsets with seededed players advancing to the next rounds.
Another thrilling encounter was witnessed in the U-10 boys singles pre-quarters between Rugved Ghime and Arnav Baheti. Rugved had to stretch himself to post three-game win. Joining him in the last eight were, Rutva Sajwan, Saumik Pande, Vedant Deshmukh, Jai Rajesh, Sairaj Nayse, Arjun Khandekar and Arnav Pathak.
The three-day tournament is being organized by Nagpur District Badminton Association in association with the Dhanwate National College.
RESULTS
U-10 boys singles (Pre-quarters): Rugved Ghime bt Arnav Baheti 15-14, 13-15, 15-12; Rutva Sajwan bt Rachit Nayse 15-14, 15-10; Saumik Pande bt Shaurya Kumar 11-15, 15-13, 15-12; Vedant Deshmukh bt Pranay Gadewar 15-9, 15-13; Jai Rajesh bt Sohamm Kewalramani 15-11, 15-8; Sairaj Nayse bt Sparsh Nandanwar 15-4, 15-2; Arjun Khandekar bt Ishaan Bhawatkar 15-7, 15-11; Arnav Pathak bt N Rigved 15-8, 15-7.
U-10 girls singles (Quarters): 1-Vaishnavi Sharma bt Manasvi Mahant 15-5, 15-10; Kritika Iyer bt Sara Patrikar 15-7, 15-9; Nandini Vaidya bt Anuva Shiwarkar 15-4, 12-15, 15-9; 2-Nishika Gokhe bt Ditisha Somkuwar 15-2, 15-6.
U-13 girls singles (Round of 32): 1-Nikkita Joseph bt Gargi Giradkar 15-2, 15-3; Esha Dahasahasra bt Grishma Kshirsagar 15-2, 15-0; 8-Pinak Rokde bt Vallari Athavale 15-2, 15-8; 3-Janhvi Umre bt Taniya Patwardhan 15-12, 13-15, 15-6; 6-Krisha Soni bt Aasavari Khandekar 14-15, 15-12, 15-11; Manasi Joshi bt Mahi Ratnaparkhi 15-13, 15-9; 5-Titiksha Patil bt Sukriti Patrikar 15-8, 15-7; 4-Ananya Durugkar bt Radhika Parkhi 15-3, 15-1; 7-Gaurai Rajhan bt Vidushi Tayal 15-2, 15-4; 2-Kripi Sajwan bt Siya Datir 15-7, 15-2.
U-13 boys doubles (Pre-quarters): Raghav Voditel-Sanvik Chaudhari bt Animish Manke-Jeeva Pillai 15-2, 15-3; Aditya Gadge-Sahil Jalgaonkar bt Rachit Nayse-Sairaj Nayse 15-3, 15-6.