Nagpur,
Seasoned badminton player of the city Kiran Makode of LIC and veteran Sharad Mahajan brought laurels to the Orange city by emerging victorious in the just concluded GK Khubba Memorial Maharashtra State Badminton Championship held at Latur recently. Sharad Mahajan won men's singles title in 65 plus category while Kiran Makode bagged double crown by winning men's singles in 50 plus category and mixed doubles in 50 plus category.
In the 65 plus singles final, Sharad Mahajan upset top seed Shaukat Noor Mohammad of Mumbai. Playing at a very fast pace Sharad Mahajan took huge lead in both the games and never allowed Shaukat to settle. Thus dominating fully Sharad Mahajan won in straight games 21- 8 ,21- 10. Earlier in the quarterfinal Mahajan beat Sharad Candra Kulkarni of Latur 21-11, 21-8 and in semi-final he defeated 2 nd seeded Lawangare of Satara 21- 10, 21- 6. Few weeks ago Sharad Mahajan had also won the title in 65 plus singles in National tournament held at Chandigarh.
In the 50 plus men's Singles Kiran Makode dashed the hopes of local shuttler Punkaj Pathak by defeating him in straight games 21-11 21-14. In the first game Kiran started well and led 11-9 at the mandatory break & thereafter Kiran never looked back and pocketed the first game at 21- 11. In the second game Punkaj who was loudly cheered by the local crowd, raced to a lead of 3-0 and then 7-.4. However, Kiran cameback in game by attacking on both the flanks and leveled score at 7. Punkaj despite trying his best could not match the pace of Makode’s game & lost the second game and match at 21-14. Earlier in the quarter final Kiran defeated third seed Vilas Kuavle of Mumbai 21-4, 21-13 while in the semi finals he ousted second seed Prashant Mukherjee also of Mumbai 21-4 21-8. In the mixed Doubles 50 plus Finals Kiran V Makode along with his partner Dr .Wrishalee Patil of Jalgaon defeated Prashant Mukherjee and Kavita Arun of Mumbai 21-6, 21-8. In Semi-finals Kiran & Wrishalee prevailed over Anand Vithalkar and Archana Kumar of Mumbai 21-16,21-14.