Nagpur
Fast rising city shuttler Malvika Bansod will represent India in the Asian School Under-18 Badminton Championship scheduled to be held here at the Divisional Sports Complex in Mankapur from July 9 to 14.
The in-form teenager once again gave fantastic performance to get selected in the Indian Schools team. The School Games Federation of India (SGFI) will organize the week-long tournament under the auspices of Asian School Sports Federation and International School Sports Federation.
The prestigious tournament, which will have the technical support from Maharashtra Badminton Association (MBA) and Badminton Association of India (BAI), will be held at the world-class Mankapur stadium.
The SGFI were allotted World School Badminton Championship and Asian School Championship this year. The World meet was held in April at the Balewadi Sports Complex near Pune. ASSF and SGFI will jointly host the Asian meet in the city in which several top school teams from Asian countries will compete. More than tean Asian countries are expected to participate in this mega event.
In the three-day selection trials to pick the two different eight-member teams for boys and girls, Malvika stamped her authority in style at the Balewadi Sports Complex Pune. Malvika, who is coached by international player, Kiran Makode, won all her matches and emerged champion in the girls singles.
The participants from all over the country were distributed in various groups. She easily won all the league matches in her pool. The topper from each group qualified for the knock-out stage. In the quarterfinal, Malvika defeated Vennela Shri 21-10, 21-10, while in the semis, she accounted for Shavi Bhatnagar 21-8, 21-16.
However, she had to face stiff challenge in the final against Deepshikha Singh of Delhi, which she won 21-11, 21-23, 21-13. Malvika pocketed the first game without any trouble. A lapse in the concentration after leading comfortably by five points helped Delhi girl claim the extended second game 23-21.
With this triumph, Malvika has thus been ranked No.1 in the Indian team and will play the first singles in the tourney. “I am very happy to represent India in the prestigious tournament. It will be my first time and I am determined to make it count by performing well in front of the home crowd. The selection trials were hectic as I have to play three important matches (quarterfinal, semis and final) within a short span of few hours today. The competition was tough as several new players from across the country had come for the trials,” a jubilant Malvika from Pune.
The 16-year-old could not get the desired results in the All India Junior Ranking Badminton tournament which concluded last week at Tirupur. She was upset in the U-19 girls singles quarterfinal. Seed No. 12 Dipti Kuity had shocked Malvika 21-12, 21-14.
“After a day’s break in the city we had to rush to Pune for the trials. I had missed the opportunity to appear for the World School Badminton trials few months ago as the dates were clashing with my Indonesia tournament. So I didn’t want to miss this chance,” said Malvika.
Tanishka Deshpande of Pune will be the second Maharashtra player in the Indian school team.
