NAGPUR’S top doubles shuttlers Ritika Thaker and Simran Singhi fought valiantly but went down in second round at Yonex-Sunrise Odisha Masters in progress at Calicut on Thursday. In the first round, they played junior star pair of Unnati Hooda and Palak Arora. Ritika and Simran gave a lesson or two to their younger opponents winning 21-7, 21-13 to move up. In the second round, they were up pitted against much higher ranked opponents Rituparna and Shwetaparna Panda. The Panda sisters had beaten national champions Ashwini Bhatt and Shikha Gautam in the first round. Panda sisters played the first game as per script to take 21-12. In the second game, Ritika and Simran made amends to their game with lethal attack and solid defence to easily win 21-14, levelling the scores at one all.

 

The better rate duo had something up their sleeves for the decider. They started very well and were always in the lead. At one stage the score was 19-13 and the Panda sisters seemed to wrap up the match. But there was still a twist in the tale as Ritika and Simran fought tooth and nail to make the score 19-18, from there two lucky points in favour of the Panda sisters sealed the match for them. Reacting after the match Ritika and Simran said that had they not got the last two lucky points, they surely would have wrapped up the match. They also added that each match they play, they learn something from it — be it a win or loss. Their next assignment is the upcoming Senior Nationals at Guwahati. They thanked Suchitra Academy, their coaches and Ajay Dayal Badminton Academy along with MBA and NDBA for their continued support.