Both Air-India’s Shlok Ramchandran, and Greater Mumbai’s Farah Moloobhai have lived upto expectations as they made the title round in their men’s and women’s doubles of the Maharashtra State Open Doubles Challenge, held at Goregaon Sports Club here today. Incidentally, both have also paired to enter the mixed doubles final as well.
Lefthander Pooja Devlekar, too, is line for a double, as she is Farah’s doubles partner and She with Harsh Jagdane had knocked out fancied Sai Dinesh Reddy and Himanshi Pandey 22-20, 19-21, 21-18 n the day’s toughest tie..
Shlok Ramchandran and Farah Moloobhai during their mixed doubles semi final match
Shlok , now based at Gopichand Badminton Academy, is ranked No 2 in the country doubles. He has paired with hard-hitting lefthander Aditya Pandya as they downed Amit Khadgi and Arijeet Bose 23-21, 21-13 .They take on top seeded Abhidnya Sawant and Prasad Shetty , Maharashtra’s one of the most attacking pair, for the coveted crown. Abhidnya and Prasad stopped the impressive run of the juniors Sai Dinesh Reddy and Deep Rambhia, beating them 21-8, 21-17.
Results of all the semifinals:
Women’s doubles: (1) Aishawarya N/Vallari Bukane bt Janhavi Jagtap/Arya Shetty 21-7, 21-17; Pooja Devlekar/ Farah Moloobhbai bt Shruti Sinha/Namitha Shetty 21-9, 21-15.
Men’s open doubles: (1) Abhidnya Sawant/Prasad Shetty bt Sai Dinesh Reddy/Deep Rambhia 21-8, 21-17; Shlok Ramchandran/Aditya Pandya bt Amit Khadgi/Arijeet Bose 23-21, 21-13.
Mixed doubles: (1) Shlok Ramchandran/Farah Moloobhai Deep Rambhia/ Radhika Dagonkar 21-17, 21-10; Harsh Jagdane/Pooja Devlekar bt Sai Dinesh Reddy/Himanshi Pandey 22-20, 19-21, 21-18.
Mixed (+70) doubles: Fabian/Neesha bt KT Thomas/Afreen 21-11, 21-14; Mahesh Chhabria/Archana Singh bt Vikrant Karanjkar/Purnima 21-16, 21-13.
Men’s (+80) doubles: Yogesh Padukone/Sanjeev Mahajan bt Prashant mukheree/Vikrant 22-20, 21-14; Ayaz Billawala/ Shailesh Dagga bt Vilas Kuwale. Rajat Moitra 21-14, 14-21, 21-18.
Men’s (+90) doubles: Rajiv Sampat/Ajay Srivastava bt Ayaz Billiawala/Gayutam Ashra 21-12, 21-12; Hyat Khan/Rajat Moitra bt Shailesh Dagga/ Sanjeev Mahajan 15-21, 23-21, 21-18.
Men’s (+100) doubles: Gautam Ashra/Shailesh Dagga bt Anis BadaNI/Shaukat Noor Mohd 21-12, 21-12; Sanjay Sharma/Ayaz Billawala bt Ajay Srivastava/Himanshu Vaidtya 21-18, 21-9.