In National Games Assam’s women badminton team won gold

Guwahati: Assam won its first gold medal at the 37th National Games as the women’s badminton team defeated Maharashtra 3-0 in the final at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Goa on Saturday.
Karnataka beat Maharashtra 3-1 to win the men’s team gold medal. Assam’s Ashmita Chaliha and Isharani Baruah proved too good for the entire Maharashtra team as they won their respective singles matches and then teamed up to upset former junior national champions Ritika Thaker and Simran Singhi to wrap up the gold medal.
Ashmita, who was also part of India’s Asian Games squad, started Assam’s march to the top of the podium with a 21-16, 21-11 victory over Purva Barve.
Maharashtra knew they would be favorites for the gold medal if they could win one of the first three rubbers. And those hopes were raised when Alisha Naik won the first game against Isharani, dropping just nine points.
But Isharani came back strongly in the second game, not allowing her opponent to play deceptive drops and starting to control the rallies better. She cruised through the second game and led 11-2 in the third before Alisha found a way to score some points.
However, it was too late for the Mumbai girl, as Isharani held her nerve to win the match 9-21, 21-13, 21-18 in 40 minutes. The eventual silver medalists will still believe they can turn things around.
But Ashmita and Isharani carried the momentum and took early leads in both games and their opponents’ efforts were not enough to match them.
The Assam pair cruised to a 21-19, 21-13 win as the team arrived to celebrate a well-deserved victory.
The men’s team final was a well-contested affair. Karnataka’s first singles player S Bhargav showed nerves of steel against veteran Harsheel Dani to give his side a 1-0 lead as he cruised to an 18-21, 21-19, 21-15 win.
It looked like Karnataka might double their advantage when K Pruthvi Roy took a commanding lead in the first game against Rohan Gurbani. But the Nagpur boy saved three game points in the opening game.
He had to save two more game points in the second but could not convert the match point as the match went into the decider.
The two players were neck-and-neck at 14-14 before Gurbani reeled off seven straight points to win the match and restore parity for Maharashtra.
Karnataka’s experienced combination of H K Nithin and K Sai Pratheek once again led their team with a 21-12, 21-14 win over Deep Rambhiya and Akshan Shetty.
World Junior Championship bronze medalist Ayush Shetty then defeated Darshan Pujari 21-16, 21-17 to wrap up the summit clash.
The 37th National Games Goa 2023 is a prestigious sporting event aimed at promoting sportsmanship and unity across India. It will feature 43 sports disciplines with over 10,000 athletes competing from 28 Indian states, eight union territories and services. The event will take place from October 26 to November 9 across 28 venues in Goa, India.