NAGPUR: One of the most promising shuttlers in the country, Maisnam Meiraba continued his giant-killing act for the second straight day at the Maharashtra International Challenge tournament. He ousted top seed Kiran George in the semis a day before and wiped away the challenge of second seed Mithun Manjunath on Sunday to win the title.
With a 21-14, 21-16 victory over Manjunath, Meiraba topped the men’s singles podium. There was another crown that came in India’s kitty when the pair of Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun swept aside the challenge of their Thai opponents to claim the men’s doubles crown.
The combo of Kapila and Arjun, who played the quarterfinals in the World Championships last month, were made to sweat by their Thailand rivals — Chaloempon Charoenkitamorn and Nanthakarn Yordphaisong. Though the Indian pair had an upper hand, their silly error on championship point took the summit clash into the decider, where they stayed calm and posted a 21-17, 20-22, 21-18 win.
India had a chance to clinch a total of four titles on the final day of the competition but unseeded G Ruthvika Shivani and the mixed doubles pairing of K Maneesha and Gouse Shaikh lost in straight games.
Ruthvika, who has been making a comeback after a long injury lay-off, had upset many seeded players en route to the final but could not handle the prowess of Japan’s Miho Kayama, going down 11-21, 11-21.
Shaikh and Maneesha were also unable to trouble Thailand’s Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat and lost 18-21, 9-21.
Seventh seeds Chisato Hoshi and Miyu Takahashi clinched the women’s doubles crown in an all-Japan final beating Kayama and Kaho Osawa 21-18, 19-21, 21-16 in the final.
