Indian National Masters Championship :Poonam wins double , Pooja Mehta bags triple titles

Narendra Bhale

Panchkula ( Haryana): Poonam Tatwawadi of MP achieved double success in +55 in Yonex Sunrise 46th National Masters (Veterans) Badminton Championship, Vasant Kumar Shikari of MP was runner-up in +75 men’s singles, Pooja Mehta of Gujarat achieved triple success in +45 age group, Poonam Tatwawadi and Vasant Kumar Shikari are from Bhopal, Pooja Mehta (formerly Parekh) has been a player from Indore,
In this competition held from 16 to 23 March in Panchkula, Haryana, in the +55 women’s singles final, first ranked Poonam Tatwawadi defeated Sangeeta Rajgopalan of Chhattisgarh 18-21, 21-16 in 33 minutes by retirement, in the +55 women’s doubles final, Poonam Tatwawadi and Sangeeta Rajgopalan defeated Balwinder Kaur Sapra of Maharashtra and Suzanne Venglet of Tamil Nadu 21-11, 21-11 Poonam* said that she has been winning in different age groups of Indian National Masters competition for the past 11 years, achieving double success in 40 to +55 age groups, Sangeeta is also a former player from MP, Sangeeta, Vivek and Poonam Tatvawadi are my contemporary players, Vasant Kumar Shikari lost to first ranked Haryana’s Satish Gupta 17-21, 15-21 in 30 minutes in the +75 men’s singles final, Shikari defeated Karnataka’s MD Murali 21-14, 19-21, 21-7 in the semi-finals, Shikari said that he would have been happier if he had won.
+45 In the women’s singles final, Pooja Mehta defeated Karnataka’s Poorva Sangani 21-12,21-7 and in the women’s doubles final, Pooja Mehta and Karnataka’s Yasmin Sheikh defeated Karnataka’s Vidisha Barua and Assam’s Madhusmita Deka 21-16,21-15, +45 In the mixed doubles final, Gujarat’s Sameer Abbasi and Pooja Mehta defeated Maharashtra’s Upendra Phadnis and Prerna Joshi 21-15,21-7, former Indore player Romit Dodeja played with KG in +35 men’s singles and played till the semi-finals in +35 mixed doubles with MP’s Prabinu Kabra, Romit Dodeja is a former player of Sartaj Academy, Romit lost to Maharashtra’s Nijal Disa 18-21,21-14 in 43 minutes in the singles semi-finals, Nijal won the title by defeating Satinder Malik 21-12,18-21,21-13, +45 In the men’s singles, C M Shashidhar and Kiran Makode of Maharashtra won in +50 men’s singles, Ramlakhan of Punjab defeated Rakesh Kumar Bansal in the final in +60 men’s singles, Ramlakhan and Maharashtra’s Manjusha Sahastrabuddhe won the +60 mixed doubles title,
Badminton Association of India General Secretary Sanjay Mishra said that for the first time a prize money of Rs 18 lakh was also given in the Masters’ National Competition, matches were held in the age groups of +35 to +75, this was the last national competition of badminton of the year 2023-24,
Haryana Badminton Association Secretary Ajay Singhania said that 1,774 entries were received, the competition concluded under the chief hospitality of Haryana Assembly Speaker Gyanchand Gupta and Vice Chancellor of Motilal Nehru Sports University Rai, Haryana, retired Director General of Police of Uttarakhand Ashok Kumar were also present.

Sixth National Para Badminton Championship held in Jamshedpur

The Sixth National Para Badminton Championship was held in Tatanagar Jamshedpur from 20 to 23 March. Players of Gaurav Khanna Excellence Badminton Academy, Lucknow won the maximum 38 medals. Dronacharya Award winner Chief Para Badminton Coach Gaurav Khanna told that the players of his academy won 11 gold, 12 silver and 15 bronze medals. Nitesh Kumar, Chirag Baretha, Palak Kohli, Prem Kumar Ale, Tarun Dhillon, Rutvik Raghupati, Shivarajan, Mandeep Kaur, Tulsimati Murugesan, Nitya Shri Sivan, Alpha James, Abu Hubaida won gold medals. Players of Dr. Shakuntala Mishra National Rehabilitation University, Lucknow won 23 medals including 3 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze. The fifth Para Badminton Championship was hosted by this university in Lucknow last year, then they won only five bronze medals. The bar was organized by Para Badminton in-charge Prabhakar Rao at Jamshedji Tata Stadium