Get ready to soar!
On 5th November 2023, 64 teams and 80 individual players assembled at Andheri Sports complex to play in the Agility Cup Badminton Tournament. Competing in 4 categories: Men’s singles, Men’s doubles, Women’s singles and mixed Doubles, the players had a big day ahead of them.
The tournament began around 10 am. At the back, players were warming up and practicing their swings. Others sat in the stands, talking with their fellow competors. Across all categories, the rules remain the same: play 1 set of 21 points. There were four courts available to play. They began with men’s doubles.
32 teams played across the four courts. The umpires and line referees watched as 4 teams made it to the semifinals. In group A, Aadi Tendulkar and Anshul Warade beat Dhruv Shetty and Darshan Yadhav 21-15. Meanwhile, Tanay Vaidya and Ayush Mewada beat Dheeraj shah and Nitin Sharma 21-14. In group B, Harditya Shah and Chinmay Jadhav won 21-11. Qualified alongside them for the semifinals were Soham G and Vinayak B, who beat Adwait and Tanish 21-11.
Following that, they started men’s singles. 64 players competed over 2.5-3 hours. We saw some great shots. Shuttle cocks flew high up, racquets hit hard. In the end, 4 out of the 64 players made it to the semifinals. In the quarter finals, Abeer Sane beat Soham Karmarkar 21 -18. Meanwhile Chinmay Jadhav beat Aayush Mohite 21-8. In the other groups, Vinayak Bhatia beat Soham Ghondalekar 21-18 and Tanay Vaidya beat Rishi Balhara 21-11. It was definitely an intense competition up to here.
Following this, the mixed doubles were started. Once again, there were 32 teams across two groups. Reaching the semifinals were Chinmay Jadhav and Hiba Fatima who beat Adwait Parab and Asmiya Sayyad 21-11. In addition, Rishi B and Riya D qualified against Jayon Shighte and Rachel Fernandes 21-17. On the other courts, Vinayak B and Vaishnavi C beat Onkar J and Jahnvi K 21-15. Furthermore, Varada K and Aarush K beat Soham G and Shrushti 21-18.
Alongside this, women’s singles were also going on. There were 16 eager players on the courts. The quarter finals were won by Sudhiksha Sawant, who beat Bhagyashree Kokare 21-17. In addition, Hina Bediya beat Shivani 21-5 and Varada Khadake beat Sanjana Pillai 21-5 too. Meanwhile, Gargi Dhuleka
won against Asmiya Sayyad 21-7.
Then, it was time for the semifinals. The crowd kept their watchful eye, as the semis started. It began with Vinayak and Vaishnavi beating Arush and Varada 21-11. Chinmay and Hiba also qualified for the finals, beating Rishi and Riya 21-8. Moving on the woman’s semifinals, we have Hina winning against Sudhiksha 21-9 and Gargi narrowly winning against Varada 21-18. Meanwhile Tanay and Aayush beat Aadi and Anshul 21-12. They will compete against Soham and Vinayak, who beat Harditya and Chinmay. For the men’s singles Chinmay reached the finals against Abee with a score of 21-11 and Vinayak beat Tanay 21-18.
Now, it ends with the finals. We see competitors trading hits, strategizing shots. The crowd cheers and hoots while the players are focusing hard, delivering powerful strikes. Then, after the bombastic matches, we got the winners.
In the women’s singles finale, Varada Khadake gets the gold, while Hina Bediya wins the silver 21-6. In the men’s singles finale, Vinayak Bhatia won against Chinmay Jadhav 21-18 after a brutal match In the mixed doubles finale, Chinmay and Hiba Fatima beat Vinayak and Vaishnavi Chettiar 21-15. In the men’s doubles finale, Vinayak and Soham Gondhalekar took the gold against the sliver to Tanya Vaidya and Aayush Mohite scoring 21-15. It was definitely an intense matchup. All contestants put in a lot of sweat and dedication. But ultimately there can only be 4 winners. However, it was a memorable event that will remain with the contestants forever.
– A Report by Vivaan Tasker