Sharayu Ranjane of Pune and Greater Mumbai’s Harshit Mahimkar occupied centre stage at the Willingdon SC, defeating higher ranked players to advance to the Girls and Boys U-19 quarter-finals of the Yonex Sunrise State U-19 Badminton Selection tournament, organized by GMBA, promoted by Badminton Gurukul and hosted by Willingdon SC.While unseeded Sharayu played a superior game to oust 5th seed city mate Navya Ranka 15-10, 15-13, Mahimkar kept his nerves in the decider to oust 4th seed Pranay Gadewar of Nagpur 15-8, 9-15, 15-13.Also scoring an upset win was Aaysuh Adey, of Pune, seeded 13, who shunted out city mate eighth seed Nikshep Katre 15-11, 15-12.Top seed Yutika Chavan of Pune had a fight on her hands against unseeded Pranjal Shinde of Raigad before winning 15-10, 13-15, 15-8 and so did seventh seed Nishika Gokhe of Nagpur, who survived a scare before rallying to defeat Raigad’s Gatha Suryawanshi 15-9, 15-10, 15-12.Meanwhile the top two seeds among the boys, Arjun Aluguvelli (Mumbai Suburb) and Rutva Sajwan (Nagpur) stayed on course for a crack at the top spot, winning their matches with ease and so did the girls second seed Ridheema Sarpate of Nagpur.ResultsBoys Singles U-19 (Round of 16)Arjun Aluguvelli (Mumbai Suburb) (1) bt Sudip Khorate (Pune) – 15-9, 15-10; Rutva Sajwan (Nagpur) (2) bt Rujul Wadate (Thane) -15-8, 15-12; Tanay Mehendale (Raigad) (3) bt Prasanna Manna (Sangli) – 15-9, 15-2; Avadhut Kadam (Pune) (5) bt Yash Gaurav Sinha (Thane) (9) – 15-9, 15-9; Harshit Mahimkar (Greater Mumbai) bt Pranay Gadewar (Nagpur) (4) – 15-8, 9-15, 15-13; Aayush Adey (Pune) (13) bt Nikshep Katre (Pune) (8) – 15-11, 15-12; Ojas Joshi (Pune) (6) bt L. Abhigyan Singha (Pune) – 15-8, 15-11; Eashwara Uppu (Raigad) bt Dhruv Nikam (Pune) (7) – 15-13, 15-10;Girls Singles U-19 (Round of 16)Yutika Chavan (Pune) (1) bt Pranjal Shinde (Raigad) – 15-10, 13-15, 15-8; Ridheema Sarpate (Nagpur) (2) bt Sharvari Survase (Pune) – 15-10, 15-13; Nishika Gokhe (Nagpur) (7) bt Gatha Suryawanshi (Raigad) – 15-9, 10-15, 15-12; Ketaki Thite (Mumbai Suburb) bt Dakshayni Patil (Kolhapur) – 15-9, 15-5; Sharayu Ranjane (Pune) bt Navya Ranka (Pune) (5) – 15-10, 15-13; Khyati Katre (Pune) bt Anushka Epte (Raigad) (8) – 15-11, 15-8; Yashwi Patel (Pune) bt Anannya Shinde (Washim) – 15-13, 15-9; Dhun Sanghvi (Buldhana) bt Ira Apte (Pune) – 15-8, 17-15.
