Mumbai: Little-known, Deviah Jain of Utpal Sanghvi had a dream run in the tournament stunning some of the top players before overcoming the 4th seed Sushant Ravva of Automic Energy Central School 11-21, 21-19, 21-11 to clinch the under-16 trophy of the MSSA Badminton Tournament played at Bombay Gymkhana on Saturday. Deviah had a rough start to the game and Sushant took advantage of this playing aggressive shots and making him run to all corners of the court taking the first set 21-11. A pep talk with his coach Deviah turned on the heat with six points on the trot. Deviah stuck to drop shots and slowed down Sushant’s game focusing on returning rather than attacking. Sushant was able to recover from the six-point deficit to level the scores at 10-10, but Deviah undeterred stuck to the strategy which helped him take the second set 21-19. In the third game, Sushant was out of sorts in the third game making unforced errors helping Deviah Jain secure an 11-21, 21-19, 21-11 victory.
In another match, second seed Saransh Gajbhiye of Ryan International upset the top seed Darius Pardiwala of Bombay Scottish 21-19, 22-24, 21-16 to win the U-14 finals. When asked about his hard-fought win over the top seed Saransh Said, “ I went all out right from the first game to ease the pressure in the second game but Darius played brilliantly in the second game which I lost by a narrow margin”. In the third set, I changed my strategy attacking his forehand which was weak and this helped me make a lot of strong returns to win the third game and the match” he further added.
Results (all finals)
Girls (U-10): Riya Vinherkar (Bombay Scottish, Mahim) bt Evana Tyagi ( St. Francis School ICSE, Borivali) 21-10, 21-15; Under-14: Siya Singh (Fatima High School, Vidyavihar) bt Alisha Naik (Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyalaya, Malad) 15-21, 21-18, 21-12; Under-16: Hrissha Dubey Jamnabai Narsee, Juhu) bt Anamika Singh (Gokuldham High School, Goregaon) 21-16, 21-14.
Boys (Under-10): Gupta Adyant (Cathedral & John Cannon, Fort) bt Saanidhya Agrawal 21-13, 14-21, 21-11; Under-14: Saransh Gajbhiye (Ryan Int. ICSE, Goregaon) bt Darius Pardiwala (Bombay Scottish School, Mahim) 21-19, 22-24, 21-16; Under-16: Deviah Jain (Utpal Sanghvi) bt Sushant Ravva (Automic Energy central School, Anushakti) 11-21, 21-19, 21-11