Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker have won the Women’s Doubles national Title after beating defending champions Tanisha Crasto and Aditi Bhatt at the 44th Yonex Sunrise Junior National Championship at Rajahmundry, today.
In a marathon encounter that lasted 1 hour and 17 minutes Simran and Ritika avenged their loss to the same opponents in the 2018 nationals with a 21-14, 20-22, 21-18 victory. The duo won the first game comfortably and were comfortably ahead 20-17 with 3 match points, when the top seeded pair staged a remarkable fight back taking 5 points in a row to win 20-22.
The eventual champions showed remarkable mental strength to regroup and win the decider 21-18.
An ecstatic Simran said “15 days ago we almost withdrew our entry because I was still weak from a bout of Dengue, I am glad I didn’t. I thank my coaches, my club, my college and all my sparring partners for helping me win the title.”
Ritika added, “I can’t believe it! It was difficult to get our focus back into the game after squandering 3 match points in the second game, but we managed to do it and win the decider.”
Simran trains in Shrikant Vad’s Thane Academy under ex-international Akshay Dewalkar and in Goregaon Sports Club under Coach Sanjeev Mahajan while Ritika trains in Nagpur under Coaches Ajay Dayal and Robin Simon.
The duo brought home the only Gold Medal for Maharashtra in the prestigious event.