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Pune District Badminton Championship: Shah outsmarts Deshpande to enter quarter-finals
In the first set, Shah looked the better player as she kept adding variation to her shots and kept Deshpande guessing
It was a tough contest between Tanishka Deshpande and Tara Shah for an hour before the latter came out victorious and entered the quarter-finals of the women’s category of the Pune District Badminton Championship underway at the Modern Sports Complex in Shivajinagar on Thursday.
Shah defeated Deshpande with a scoreline of 21-15, 23-25, 23-21.
“It was a tough game. Tanishka really played well in the second game and she is a good player. I am happy that I could emerge victorious in the final game,” added Shah, who trains at the Nikhil Kanetkar Badminton Academy.
In the first set, Shah looked seemed the better player as she kept adding variation to her shots and kept Deshpande guessing. Deshpande rallied back strongly and managed to take the second set 25-23. The game saw an exchange of long rallies and Deshpande returned well to force the match into the decider.
In the final set, it was all about controlling nerves and Shah came out with flying colours.
In other women’s section matches, Sarah Navare defeated Riya Pawar 21-19, 18-21, 21-16 to ensure a place in the quarter-final in a 41-minute battle while Siddhi Jadhav only took 20 minutes to score a 21-9, 21-14 victory over Yogita Salve.
In the men’s section, second seeded Rishabh Deshpande had to sweat hard for 42 minutes to overcome Varun Kapur 21-11, 21-19 and ensure a place in the final eight.
Amey Oak and Vineet Kamble were the other players who made it to the quarter-finals. Oak defeated Abhishek Borate 21-9, 21-8 while Kamble overcame Soham Navandar 18-21, 21-16, 21-17.
