Nagpur: Star shuttler Ritika Thaker of Nagpur with Deep Rambhiya of Thane made it to the final of the Maharashtra State Senior Championships being held at the Divisional Sports Complex in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.
The third seeded Nagpur-Thane pair got a bye in the first round. In the second round, they beat Ajay Meena and Chitwan Khatri 15-4, 15-11. In the third round, they got past Anirudh Nair and Urvi Thakurdesai 15-8 and 15-13. In the quarter-finals, they were up against Ian Lopes and Anamika Singh. Playing with aggression, they did not let the opponents settle and won the match in straight games with the scores reading 21-10, 21-14.
Gold Rate
18 Aug 2025
In the semis, Ritika-Deep took on second seeds Anam Noushad and Sonali Mirkhelkar. After trailing 5-16 in the first game, Ritika Deep tried their best but lost the first game 21-17. Making amends, they won the second 21-18 to level the scores. The decider was a neck and neck game with the scores level at 17, then Ritika-Deep produced very aggressive badminton to wrap up the decider 21-18 to enter the summit clash. The match lasted for an hour.
Speaking on the occasion, Ritika said that the job was not fully done and they have a plan in mind for the final. Deep trains at Thane Academy and Ritika trains at Arundhati Arun Badminton Academy at Besa under the watchful eyes of international coach Arun Vishnu.
