Panjim: Favourites Karnataka and Maharashtra men and Assam women began their
campaign for badminton team gold in the 37th National Games in Goa with comfortable
victories in their respective group encounters at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium
here on Thursday.
Karnataka men defeated Uttarakhand 4-1 in Group B encounter while Maharashtra won the
opening three rubbers against Assam in their 3-2 win in Group A. The top team from each
group will advance to the final.
In women’s team event, Assam routed West Bengal 4-1 in Group A while Punjab got the better
of hosts Goa 3-2 in Group B.
Earlier, Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and Sports Minister Govind Gaude kicked off
the sports events with a short opening ceremony in the presence of other dignitaries.
And there were enough fire-works in the morning session with Karnataka and Maharashtra
showcasing the depth of their squads.
S Bhargav pocketed Karnataka’s first point by registering a come-from-behind 20-22, 21-14,
21-18 win over Chirag Sen. Aditya Joshi levelled scores for Uttarakhand by beating Pruthvi Roy
in straight games.
However, that was the only point for Uttarakhand as H V Nithin and K Sai Prateek clinched the
first doubles rubber 21-16, 19-21, 21-17 against Dhurv Rawat and Chirag Sen and then Ayush
Shetty put the result beyond doubt with straight games win over Negi 21-8, 21-13.
