Leading clubs and gymkhanas to vie for top honors at GD Birla Memorial Badminton tournament

The 28th GD Birla Memorial Masters Inter-Club Badminton tournament, hosted by Badminton 45 and Bombay Gymkhana, got underway at the Bombay Gymkhana courts in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The five-day annual tournament will conclude on May 1. The event, to be held under the aegis of the Greater Mumbai Badminton Association (GMBA), is being sponsored by the Aditya Birla Group and will be managed by Badminton Gurukul.

A total of 27 clubs are participating in the team event of this championship, while 260 entries have been received for the individual events.

Men’s singles 45+, men’s doubles 45+, men’s combination 85+, men’s combination 80+, men’s combination 110+, women’s combination 75+, professional singles and professional doubles events will be played.

The tournament is only open to all clubs and Gymkhanas, affiliated with the state of Maharashtra. However, the tournament committee reserves the right to allow other entries.

Among the top badminton clubs in action will be Bombay Gymkhana, Cricket Club of India, Andheri Sports Club, Goregaon Sports Club, Chembur Gymkhana, Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana, NSCI, and Mandpeshwar Civic Federation Gymkhana.

Speaking on the occasion, Supriya Devgun, Founder & MD, Badminton Gurukul, said:

“First and foremost, I thank Aditya Birla Group, Badminton 45, and Bombay Gymkhana for this event. We were unable to organize sporting events due to the pandemic, but with the reduction in COVID cases across the country, we are back to organizing physical events. Players will be overjoyed to be back on the field. This will be an exciting moment for the players who will compete in the much awaited GD Birla Memorial Masters Inter-Club Badminton Tournament. I wish them the very best, and I look forward to the event.”

Shailesh Daga is the top seed in the men's 45+ singles, while he joins hands with Ayaz Bilawala to take pride of place in the 45+ men’s doubles.

The mixed combination of 80+ will see Ayaz Bilawala and Naheed Divecha as the top seeds, while the women’s combination of 75+ will have Naheed Divecha and Sarita Jetwani on top.

Justin Joseph wins tough match; easy start for Nikhil Chari at GD Birla Badminton

Nikhil Chari got off to a good start in the men’s 45+ singles, outplaying Pankaj Sampat 30-13, in a round of 16 match on Thursday.

In other close matches, Justin Joseph had to stave off a strong fight from Sanju Jain before winning 30-29, while Dilip Matta got the better of Nimish Shah 30-27.

The pairing of Faisal Siddique and Rajana scored a facile 30-4 victory over Nischaay Narinder and Vishwas Attawar in a first-round match of the men’s combination doubles 80+.

In other matches, Connolly Lewis and Ranjeet Kumar got the better of Manmohan Amonkar and Rajiv Basrur 30-18. Kershi Pavri and Russell Drego had a fight on their hands before winning 30-22 against Jimmy Jatania and Sanju Jain.

In a round of 16 men’s match for professionals, Vikrant Kushwaha got the better of Ajay Mali 30-24.

Results

Men’s singles 45+ (Round of 16)

Nikhil Chari bt Pankaj Sampat 30-13

Justin Joseph bt Sanju Jani 30-29

Dilip Ramkrishna Matta bt Nimish Shah 30-27

Men’s combination 85+ (Round of 64)

Faisal Siddique/Rajan bt Nischaay Narinder/Vishwas Attawar 30-4

Connolly Lewis/Ranjeet Kumar bt Manmohan Amonkar/Rajiv Basrur 30-18

Dhirendra Maurya/Vinod Jain bt Condrad Forte/Tushar Mangal 30-21

Kershi Pavri/Russell Drego bt Jimmy Jatania/Sanju Jani 30-22.

Men’s combination 110+ (Round of 16)

Abhay Naik/Anoop Shukla bt Satinder Malhotra/Vipool Patel 30-23

Chetan Vora/Yogesh Sanghavi bt AV Suni/Sameer Patankar 30-11

Bibhash Chaterjee/Rajesh D’souza bt Pankaj Gandhi/Sanjay Salunke 30-10

Ashok Sharma/Mahesh Chhabria bt Bhaskar Reddy/Sharad Kadam 30-24

Rajendra Naik/Suraj Awatramani bt Ajit Nair/PM Balakrishna 30-24

Amol Shah/Naval Bir Kumar bt George Varghese/Ranjeet Kothari 30-18.

Mixed combination of 80+ (Round of 32)

Connolly Lewis/Nidhi Hosangady bt Ravi Annapurne/Kiran Shete 30-27

Payal Mehta/Darshit Parmar bt Rishi Bansal/Dimple Sighania 30-18

Mahesh Chhabria/Harpreet Kaur bt Priya S Ambedkar/Kiran Dehare 30-23.

GD Birla Team Championship

Country Club bt ASC Shuttlers 3-0

Jolly Gymkhana bt MCA Bandra 3-0

MCF A bt MCA Kandivali A 2-1

NSCI A bt Bombay Gymkhana B 3-0.

CCI A bt Country Club 3-0

Catholic Gymkhana bt Chembur Gymkhana 2-1

Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana bt Jolly Gymkhana A 2-1

MCF A bt NSCI A 2-1

MCA Kandivali A bt Bombay Gymkhana B 2-1

Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana bt MCA Bandra 3-0

CCI A bt ASC Shuttlers 2-1.

Professional men’s singles (Round of 32)

Rahul Bhuvad bt Chandrakumar Yadav 30-16 (1 set)

Rajesh Jadhav bt Sujit Jadhav 30-16 (1 set)

Ravi Annapurna bt Ganesh More 30-12 (1 set)

Kalpesh Padekar bt Santosh Pawar 30-25 (1 set)

Ajay Mali bt Rishi Kushwaha 30-18 (1 set)

Akshay Kadam bt Sailesh Joshi 30-9 (1 set)

Professional men’s singles (Round of 16)

Rajan Saman bt Vishwas Jadhav 30-11 (1 set)

Vikrant Kushwaha bt Ajay Mali 30-24 (1 set)

Anand Mhaskar bt Rajesh Jadhav 30-14 (1 set)

Sachin Baste bt Rahul Bhuvad 30-25 (set 1)

Sanjay Golbare bt Bharat Ganke 30-9 (1 set)

Premal Manekar bt Ravi Annapurne 30-16 (1 set)

Akshay Kadam bt Manoj Nachnekar 30-21 (1 set).