CCI Badminton: Pooja, Samiaa score impressive victories, advance to Girls' U-19 & Women quarters

Pooja Kachare and Samiaa Shah, both produced strong impressive performances and scored comprehensive wins in their respective Girls’ under-19 singles and Women’s singles pre-quarter-final matches of the CCI-Greater Mumbai District Badminton Championship 2018, jointly organized by the Cricket Club of India (CCI) and the Greater Mumbai Badminton Association (GBMA).

The second-seeded Pooja conceded just five points in coasting to a facile 15-3, 15-2 win against Vaishnavi Shete in a lop-sided Girls’ under-19 match, at the CCI Badminton courts. Meanwhile, Samiaa packed too much power for Shreya Dedhia and charged to a comfortable 15-1, 15-5 victory to seal her place in the Girls’ quarter-finals.

Later, both Pooja and Samiaa tasted more success by winning their Women’s singles encounters. Producing another steady display, Pooja defeated Sayali Parab 15-6, 15-7, while Samiaa for the second time clashed with Shreya Dedhia and she once again stamped her superiority by charging to a 15-3, 15-1 victory in quick time to advance to the quarter-finals.

In Boys under-19 second round matches, Raj More had to work hard to overcome Dhruv Arolkar 15-9, 15-11, while Ameya Nakashe had things much his own way and eased past Jinesh Jain, winning at 15-2, 15-3 to reach the round of 16. Meanwhile, Tyrone Pereira enjoyed an easy passage to the pre-quarter-finals as he outplayed Satej Rane 15-0, 15-2.

In Men’s action, Vilas Kuvale fought hard to overcome Abhijeet Surve 15-10, 12-15, 15-4, while Aayush Shrivastav enjoyed an easy outing brushing aside Sanjay Kumar in straight games at 15-3, 15-5.