Gold medal-winning Simran's silver lining

Simran Singhi with her mixed doubles partner Akshan Shetty

MUMBAI shuttler Simran Singhi is delighted with the way 2022 is panning out for her. On Friday, she won silver in the mixed doubles, partnering Akshan Shetty and followed it up with gold in the women's doubles with partner Ritika Thaker of Nagpur at the Maharashtra Senior State Selection tournament in Nanded. In the women's doubles, top seed pair of Simran and Ritika registered a 21-11, 21-15 win over Anagha Karandikar and Yogita Salve. Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles, the second seeded pair of Simran and Akshan had to settle for silver as they lost to top seeds Pratik Ranade and Akshaya Warang 16-21, 21-19, 20-22 in the final.

City shuttler Simran Singhi with partner Ritika Thaker with their winner's trophy in Nanded today

Despite coming second in the mixed doubles, she is happy with her performance as she didn't get time to train with Akshan. Talking about her performance in Nanded, Simran, who was a part of the PV-Sindhu led Uber Cup squad, told www.mid-day.com: "In the mixed doubles, we could have won a gold. But we played against top seeds Pratik Ranade and Akshaya Warang, who train together at the national camp. Akshan and I haven't trained together, but still stretched the top seed pair. I consider that as an achievement."

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Meanwhile, Simran said shifting to Hyderabad last year to train under Indonesia's Yonathan Dasuki at Suchitra Badminton Academy did a world of good to the women's doubles pair, currently ranked No.76 in the world. Before that, they would train at different centres. Simran played under Sanjeev Mahajan at the Goregaon Sports Club and under Akshay Dewalkar in Thane, while Ritika continued to play in Nagpur. "Ritika and I have been a pair for more than a decade. But we never trained at the same academy. While I was playing in Mumbai, she trained under her coach in Nagpur. It was only last year when we decided to shift to Hyderabad and play at Suchitra Academy. It was the best decision as there is a vast difference in our game. Two months ago, we were selected in Target Olympic Podium Scheme [TOPS] and we got to train at the national camp in Gopichand Academy together. That made us a stronger team. The year 2022 has been good so far as I got to be a part of Uber Cup and now TOPS. I hope it remains so till the end [of the year]," remarked Singhi, who will now play at the Mongolia International Challenge from August 16 to 21.