Jaiswal, Geeta, Suzanne, Roy, Maya, Olga, Baig bag double crown at All India Masters Ranking Badminton meet

Yogendra Kumar Jaiswal, Geeta Negi, Suzanne Venglet, Roy KJ, Maya Chawat, Olga D’Costa and Mahammad Ali Baig bagged the double crown in the All India Masters Ranking Badminton tournament in Goa on Wednesday.

The Goa Badminton Association is hosting an eight-day-long tournament, under the auspices of Badminton Association of India (BAI), at the Manohar Parrikar Indoor Badminton Stadium in Navelim.

Hundreds of badminton veteran players participated in the tournament, which marked the resumption of badminton season in the country. There have been no major national-level badminton tournaments in India since March, 2020 due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

After canceling the All India Senior Ranking badminton tournaments thrice, the Badminton Association of India decided to conduct the matches for the veteran badminton players of the country.

Seasoned badminton player Yogendra Kumar swept both the 70 plus titles with ease. In the men’s singles 70 plus final, third seed Yogendra Kumar Jaiswal defeated Satish Gupta 21-10, 21-7 in just 19 minutes.

Later in the men’s doubles 70 plus summit clash, Yogendra Kumar Jaiswal and Basant Kumar Shikari upset second seeds Satish Gupta and Murali MD 21-19, 21-13 in half an hour.

Geeta Negi dominated the 55-plus women’s category by winning both singles as well as doubles. Geeta’s doubles partner Suzanne Venglet also emerged as the champion in the mixed doubles section.

In the mixed doubles 55 plus final, Prabhu Naik Naidu K and Suzanne Venglet shocked seventh seeds Ram Lakhan and Geeta Negi 21-13, 21-11 in 22 minutes.

The BAI is organizing the All India Masters Ranking Badminton tournament for men and women from September 19 to 26 in Goa. The organizers have divided the tournament into two parts:

• Over the first four days, matches for those in the 55-plus, 60-plus, 65-plus, 70-plus and 75-plus age groups will be played.
• The second phase will be held from September 23 for those in the 35-plus, 40-plus, 45-plus and 50-plus age brackets.

Top-4 finishers in each category will represent Indian badminton team in the BWF World Senior Championship

The tournament in Goa assumes significance as it will form the basis for selection for the forthcoming BWF World Senior Badminton Championships 2021. The competition will take place from November 28 to December 4 in Huelva, Spain.

All the winners, runners-up and losing semi-finalists will automatically qualify to represent the country at the biennial BWF World Seniors.

Sharad Mahajan made it to the semi-finals in the men's singles 65 plus category

Sharad Mahajan of Nagpur finished as a semi-finalist in the 65 plus men’s singles. He will represent India for the first time as he finishes in the top four in his age category.

“It’s a very happy moment for me. I have been trying to qualify for the World Seniors for the last so many years but wasn’t able to do it. This time I was determined to clinch a place in the semis and make the cut for qualification. I am looking forward to playing in Spain in a couple of months’ time,” said Sharad Mahajan, a former banker.

The second part of the tournament for the age group between 35 and 55 will commence on Thursday.

Badminton Results (All Finals)

Men’s singles 55 plus: 1-Ram Lakhan bt Gurmeet Singh Matharu 21-10, 21-11 (20 minutes)

Men’s singles 60 plus: Roy KJ bt Rajiv Verma 21-10, 21-14 (18 minutes)

Men’s singles 65 plus: 1-Anil Mital bt Naidu SKB 21-5, 21-10 (18 minutes)

Men’s singles 70 plus: 3-Yogendra Kumar Jaiswal bt Satish Gupta 21-10, 21-7 (19 minutes)

Men’s singles 75 plus: Sudam Shahare bt Satish Dhondu Kudchadkar 21-13, 25-23 (28 minutes)

Men’s doubles 55 plus: Gyanesh Jeswal-Praveen Taneja bt 5-John Of Matha-Joseph Augustine VA 10-21, 21-19, 21-18 (45 minutes)

Men’s doubles 60 plus: 3-Roy KJ-Johnson MF bt Bibash Chatterjee-Rajiv Verma 21-14, 21-7 (21 minutes)

Men’s doubles 65 plus: Mahammad Ali Baig-Naidu SKB bt MS Puttaraj-Jayanth Shetty 21-7, 21-15 (20 minutes)

Men’s doubles 70 plus: Yogendra Kumar Jaiswal-Basant Kumar Shikari bt 2-Satish Gupta-Murali MD 21-19, 21-13 (30 minutes)

Men’s doubles 75 plus: 1-Suresh D Hegde-Mohan Murari Lal Srivastava bt 2-Alfred Christian-Satish Dhondu Kudchadkar 21-18, 21-17 (30 minutes)

Women’s singles 55 plus: Geeta Negi bt 2-Sunitha Swaminathan 21-10, 21-10 (20 minutes)

Women’s singles 60 plus: 2-Manik Paranjpe bt 1-Neera Pasricha 21-9, 21-10 (20 minutes)

Women’s singles 65 plus: 1-Susy V John bt 2-Saroja Shetty BR 21-16, 21-6 (24 minutes)

Women’s singles 70 plus: Maya Chawat bt Mukta Agshikar 21-10, 21-8 (22 minutes)

Women’s singles 75 plus: Olga D’Costa bt Perpetua Jacques 21-3, 21-4 (16 minutes)

Women’s doubles 55 plus: Geeta Negi-Suzanne Venglet bt 2-Dilnaz Anklesaria-Ulka Sangore 21-14, 21-12 (25 minutes)

Women’s doubles 60 plus: 1-Taramati Parmar-Beena V Shetty bt 2-Madhu Pandey-Eira Pant 21-9, 21-5 (17 minutes)

Women’s doubles 70 plus: Maya Chawat-Olga D’Costa bt Mukta Agshikar-Bharati Heble 21-8, 21-10 (20 minutes)

Mixed doubles 55 plus: Prabhu Naik Naidu K-Suzanne Venglet bt 7-Ram Lakhan-Geeta Negi 21-13, 21-11 (22 minutes)

Mixed Doubles 60 Plus: 1-Sudheesh PK-Beena V Shetty bt Gautam Ashra-Manik Paranjpe 21-16, 24-22 (30 minutes)

Mixed Doubles 65 plus: 2-Mahammad Ali Baig-Saroja Shetty BR bt Naidu SKB-Kanya Kumari Salekoppa Bhatta 21-14, 21-18 (21 minutes)

Mixed doubles 70 plus: 1-Rakesh Sharma-Maya Chawat bt Joaquim Hilario Fernandes Da Costa-Malaquinha Fernandes 21-8, 21-3 (12 minutes)

Mixed doubles 75 plus: Satish Dhondu Kudchadkar-Sicletica Rebello bt Wazir Chand Goyal-Usha Sharma 20-22, 21-14, 21-12 (40 minutes).