National Badminton C’ship: Malvika Bansod stands out

The 16-year-old fought back to quell a spirited challenge from Assam’s Ashmita Chaliha in notching up a 21-16 16-21 21-18 win to enter the pre-quarterfinal.

Teenager Malvika Bansod of Maharashtra who reached the women's singles pre-quarterfinal in her very first appearance in the Senior National badminton championship in Nagpur on Sunday.

It was the 16-year-old, unseeded Malvika Bansod of Maharashtra who was the toast of the sparse crowd for the way she fought back to quell a spirited challenge from Assam’s Ashmita Chaliha in notching up a 21-16 16-21 21-18 win to enter the pre-quarterfinal of the 82nd Senior national badminton championship at Divisional Sports Complex here on Sunday.

The 11th standard student of Shivaji Science College (Nagpur), winner of under-19 title in the All India ranking (under-19) tournament in Chennai recently, was a bundle of composure even when trailing 7-14 in the decider but by her own confession decided to go all out, clearly determined to make it to the knock-out phase in her maiden appearance in the Senior National.

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In the men’s singles fourth round, seventh-seed Lakshya Sen of Uttarakhand, who got a walk-over from the injured World No.1 A.S.S. Siril Verma of Telangana in the third round, got the better of a fighting Maisnam Meiraba of Manipur 21-13 12-21 21-13 while, ninth-seed Chirag Sen ended the fine run of George Adrian of Gujarat with a 21-14 21-11 win after the former had eliminated eighth-seeded N.V.S. Vijeta (Telangana) in the previous round.

Results: 4th round: Men singles: Aryaman Tandon (AI) bt Siddharth Thakur (Maha) 21-10 21-13; Bodhit Joshi (Utk) bt Kaustubh Rawat (Dli) 21-7 21-18; Chirag Sen (AI) bt Adrian George (Guj) 21-14 21-11; Lakshya Sen (Utk) bt Maisnam Meiraba (Mnp) 21-13 12-21 21-13; B.M. Rahul Bharadhvaj (AI) bt C. Rohit Yadav (Tel) 21-13 21-10; Ansal Yadav (UP) bt M. Mithun (AI) 16-21 21-8 21-13; C. Rahul Yadav (TS) bt Kartik Jindal (Har) 21-12 21-13.

Women’s singles: M. Tanishq (AP) bt Kanika Kanwal (Rlys) 21-19 21-19; Revati Devasthale (Maha) bt Riya Mookerjee (Rlys) 21-19 20-22 21-18; G. Ruthvika Shivani (PSPB) bt Mansi Singh (UP) 21-8 21-11; Purva Barve (AI) bt Ritika Thaker (Maha) 21-13 19-21 22-20; Aakarshi Kashyap (AAI) bt Vaidehi Choudhari (Maha) 17-21 21-16 21-16; G. Vrushali (TS) bt Treesa Jolly (Ker) 21-16 21-13; Saili Rane (Rlys) bt Vaishnavi Bhale (Maha) 21-16 21-10; Malvika Bansod (Maha) bt Ashmita Chaliha (Asm) 21-16 16-21 21 18.