SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad Oct 21: Akash Pandit of Giridih and Manisha Rani Tirkey of Ranchi displayed a superb performance and wore double crowns in State Senior Badminton Championship that concluded at Dumka Indoor stadium last evening.
Akash Pandit besides winning the first singles championship, paired with Sonali Dubey of Deoghar to bag the mixed doubles title. The pair defeated Vicky Kumar of Palamu and Manisha Rani Tirkey’s (Ranchi) pair by 21-16, 21-16 in the final match.
In the prestigious men’s singles final, Akash Pandit after losing the first game came back to beat Aman Raj of East Singhbhum (Jamshedpur) by 18-21, 21-14, 21-17. This is the first time that Akash Pandit has got the honour of winning a singles title. Pandit who practices in Delhi stunned Aman Raj from his performance.
On the other hand, Manisha Rani Tirkey regained the women’s singles title by defeating Pragya J Bodra of East Singhbhum (Jamshedpur) by 21-12, 21-08 in the final. Earlier in the women’s doubles final, pairing with Deyasi Kanjibiliya, she beat Pragya J Bodra and Sarah Sharma’s pair from Jamshedpur by 21-14, 21-15 to wear double crowns in the championship.
In the men’s doubles event, the pair of Charanjit Jha (West Singhbhum) and Safi Akram (Ranchi) beat Rameej Alam (West Singhbhum) and Vicky Kumar of Palamu in the final match by 21-13, 21-14.
For winning these titles, Akash Pandit and Manisha Rani Tirkey bagged the first prize of Rs 21,000 for each event. Runners up in each event were given a cash prize of Rs 11,000.
Dumka MLA Basant Soren was the chief guest on the occasion and gave away trophies as well as cash prizes to winners and runners-up. Guest of honour, DIG Dumka range Sudarshan Prasad Mandal, Dumka Badminton Association President Umashankar Choubey, Secretary Dipak Kumar Jha also distributed prizes and certificates among the players.
