Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: Goa’s Sandhya Melasheemi delivered a commanding performance at the Yonex Sunrise 48th Indian Masters National Badminton Championships, advancing to two finals in the Women’s 40+ category and putting herself in contention for a memorable double gold.
The former state champion and international medalist secured her place in the Women’s Singles 40+ final with a composed 21 to 19, 21 to 14 victory over Lalduhzuali of Mizoram in the semifinal. Displaying strong control and consistency throughout the match, Sandhya maintained the upper hand during crucial rallies to seal the win in straight games.
Her impressive run continued in the Women’s Doubles 40+ event. Partnering with Radhika Madhur Ingalhalikar of Maharashtra, the duo delivered a dominant performance in the semifinal, defeating Nadia Mujumdar and Rishu Roy of Madhya Pradesh with an emphatic 21 to 7, 21 to 7 scoreline. The convincing win secured their place in the final and strengthened Sandhya’s bid for two titles at the championship.
In the Men’s Doubles 45+ category, Goa’s Parag Chauhan and Kamlesh Kanji concluded their campaign with a bronze medal after a hard fought semifinal encounter. The pair went down to Davinder Dhillon of Delhi and Hemant Duggal of Maharashtra in three games. After narrowly losing the opening game 19 to 21, the Goan duo bounced back to claim the second 21 to 17 before falling short in the deciding game 12 to 21.
The semifinal stage also produced several notable results in other categories. In Men’s Singles 35, Jaswinder Singh of Maharashtra defeated top seed Sahil Katlariya in straight games to advance to the final, while Mohsin Sumra of Gujarat secured his place in the title clash with a win over Ravijot Singh.
In Men’s Doubles 35, the pairs of Manjush Mohan K.K. and Vishnu Prasad along with Bennet Antony and Mohamed Rehan R. progressed to the final. Harshad Bhagwat moved into the Men’s Singles 40 final and will face Peeyush Aggarwal in the championship match. In the Men’s Doubles 40 category, the duos of Mayank Behal with Manish Rawat and Deepak Jaitly with Aditya Pandya advanced to the final, while the Men’s Doubles 50 final will feature Nilesh Phansalkar with Shivkiran Singh Thakur against Aneesh K.A. and Pradeep Kumar K.S.
