Aalisha wins triple crown

Aalisha Naik went on to capture triple crown, winning the girls under-17, under-15 and under-13 singles titles  on the concluding day of  the Mumbai District badminton selection tournament at Goregaon Sports Club.

Aalisha defeated Anamika Singh (22-20) in the under-17, but was taken the full distance by Gauri Kadam, before she triumphed (21-16, 9-21, ,21-11)  in the under-15 , but in her under-13 age group she was simply too good for Siya Singh (21-15, 21-6) in the final.

Unseeded Sarthak Rokade, who  was in line for a double, won the under-19 singles (21-16, 21-15), but against the  speed and power of top seed Sushant Ravva,  he went down fighting  in three pulsating games (10-21, 21-16, 21-15).

The men’s and women’s singles finals were rather tame affairs with the men’s top seed Kaushal Dharmamer as well as women’s top seed  Kalpita Sawant establishing their domination over their respective opponents. Kaushal thrashed second seeded Gaurav Rege 21-11, 21-7, but Kalpita did have to struggle a bit against stylish lefthander Pooja Devlekar before Kalpita triumphed 21-14 21-17.