Naishaa shines in Greater Mumbai's gold-medal feat

Shivani Herlekar (extreme left), Taarini Suri, Anagha Karandikar, coach Jitesh Padukone (centre), Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye, Samiaa Shah and Riya Arolkar (extreme right)

City shuttler Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye, 14, is elated to have played a pivotal role in helping Greater Mumbai women's badminton team upset their more fancied opponents Pune 2-1 to clinch gold at the Maharashtra State Olympic Games in Nagpur on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the men's side had to settle for bronze.

In the women's team final, Naishaa rose to the occasion in the deciding rubber to beat Pune's Rucha Sawant 21-16, 21-16 to help Mumbai clinch the women's team crown. Earlier, Anagha Karandikar teamed up with Taarini Suri, 15, to beat Sawant and Manali Parulekar in the doubles rubber 21-19, 21-15 and keep their team in the hunt after Saad Dharmadhikar put Pune ahead with a 21-5, 21-7 win over Samiaa Shah.

En route the final, Greater Mumbai team beat Nasik 2-1 in quarter-finals and registered 2-1 win over Thane in semi-finals. Chembur-based Naishaa, who shuttles between Mumbai and Hyderabad to pursue her badminton dream, won the deciding singles in the final and quarter-finals against Nashik. In Mumbai, Naishaa trains at the Jitesh Padukone Shuttlers' Academy housed at the North Indian Association, Sion. In Hyderabad, she trains at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy (PGBA).

Talking about the team's gold medal feat in Nagpur, Naishaa, who aims to break into the Top 30 of U-19 rankings, told www.mid-day.com, "It was a great start to the New Year for me. This is my first senior title in the team event. During my final, I developed a cramp on my leg. But winning that match 2-0 was satisfying. Winning gold in Nagpur and playing decider in final and quarters meany a lot. Playing with senior players was doubly rewarding. My only regret is not winning the singles against Thane's Mrunmayee Deshpande. Playing consecutive tournaments without a break is tough.

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Naishaa is now in Chandigarh for the Yonex-Sunrise All India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament. Her next challenge is the Yonex-Sunrise All India Junior Ranking tournament in Bahadurgarh, Haryana [Jan 10-16]. Meanwhile, there was double joy for coach Padukone whose current trainee Naishaa and former trainee Taarini were a part of the team. "This victory is more memorable to me not because I was the coach of the Mumbai team, but both Naishaa [current] and Taarini [former], who trained under me, contributed to this win. Naishaa won the crucial singles against a Nasik player in the quarter-finals and Pune in the final. Taarini and Anagha Karandikar were an invincible doubles pair who did not lose a single match in the team championship," Padukone signed off.