Pune’s top seed Saad Dharmadhikari overcame a tough challenge from Kolhapur’s Prerana Alvekar to advance to the women’s singles quarter-finals at the Shri Nandu Natekar Memorial Maharashtra State Senior Inter District (Team) and State Badminton Championship.
In the men’s singles round of 32, Pune’s top seed Varun Kapur easily defeated Rohit Borade from Raigad with a score of 21-8, 21-17, while second seed Yash Shah triumphed over Shubham Pal from BAMU, winning 21-17, 21-7 to secure his spot in the pre-quarter-finals. Alvekar started strong against the favored Dharmadhikari, taking a close first game, but Dharmadhikari quickly found her rhythm and dominated the next two games, ultimately winning 18-21, 21-12, 21-12.
Second seed Shruti Mundada from Pune received a walkover against Raksha Kandasamy from Raigad. Thane’s Siya Singh bounced back after losing the first game to Nehal Gosavi from Nagpur, eventually winning 19-21, 21-17, 21-10 to progress to the quarter-finals.
Women’s Singles (Round of 16):
- Saad Dharmadhikari bt Prerana Alvekar: 18-21, 21-12, 21-12
- Mrunmayee Deshpande bt Prakriti Sharma: 21-19, 21-10
- Ananya Gadgil bt Shalmali Sutar: 21-15, 21-10
- Purva Barve bt Hrissha Dubey: 21-14, 21-12
- Aarya Korgaonkar bt Sanskruti Satarkar: 21-15, 21-14
- Isha Patil bt Bhatoye Naishaa: 21-17, 1-0 (retired)
- Siya Singh bt Nehal Gosavi: 19-21, 21-17, 21-10
- Shruti Mundada: W/o Raksha Kandasamy
Men’s Singles (Round of 32):
- Varun Kapur bt Rohit Borade: 21-8, 21-17
- Pratmesh Kulkarni bt Ninad Kulkarni: 17-21, 23-21, 21-10
- Nagesh Chamle bt Ajay Meena: 21-14, 21-17
- Suveer Pradhan bt Ojas Gedam: 12-21, 21-9, 24-22
- Yash Shah bt Shubham Pal: 21-17, 21-7
