NAGPUR: City shuttler Ritika Thaker and her Hyderabad partner Navneeth Bokka kick started their campaign in the mixed doubles qualifying event of the Bahrain international series with a facile victory on Wednesday.
The five-day badminton tournament played under the aegis of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) began at the India club in Manama, Bahrain.
In their opening match of the qualifiers, the Indian mixed doubles pair took a mere 24 minutes to outclass the duo of Bahrain's Elyas Jaffar and her South Africa partner Sandra Le Grange in straight games.
After winning the first game 21-10, the Indian duo of Ritika and Navneeth took no time and outclassed the Bahrain, South Africa pair 21-9 to register an easy victory.
Both Ritika and Navneeth are a win away from qualifying in the main draw of 16 pairs.
Ritika, the Nagpur doubles specialist, is also playing in the women's doubles event. With her Mumbai partner Simran Singhi the Nagpur girl is a top seed in the women's doubles main draw.
Ritika is playing in the second international tournament after the long covid break. Ritika says she is happy to go for this tournament and will give her best. She has been practicing with her partner Simran Singhi for the last couple of weeks at the Suchitra Academy in Hyderabad. Apart from that she is also honing her skills with her Nagpur coaches Ajay Dayal and Robin Simon.
Earlier in September, she played in Ukraine.
