Naisha, Julian show spectacular recoveries

Eleven-year-old Julian Korda and eight-year-old Naisha Bhatoye initiated spectacular recoveries to storm into the boys’ under-13 semi-finals and girls’ under-15 quarter-finals, respectively, in the CCI-GMBA badminton championship, at the Cricket Club of India, on Tuesday.

After winning the opening game in the best-of-three contest, Korda, of St. Mary’s, SSC (Mazagaon) rallied to halt Arnav Bhagat with an exciting 21-17, 18-21, 21-18 win in a thrilling encounter of fluctuating fortunes, while Naisha, of St. Gregorius High School, Chembur recovered from 7-12 and 11-14 in the second game to surprise Saanvi Mardolkar 1512, 15-14 in another thriller.

Naisha, who trains at the North Indian Association, King’s Circle earlier entered the girls’ under-13 semi-finals, while on Monday she made it to the under-10 semi-finals where she is the top seed.

Korda squandered a 12-9 advantage in the second game against Bhagat who won four points in a row for a 13-12 lead to force the decider. Trailing 710 in the final game, Korda caught up at 17-all and unleashed back-to-back drops for a vital 19-17 lead before another drop ended a tight contest.

Diminutive Naisha Bhatoye delighted on a rewarding day as she raced to 10-4 in the opening game against Saanvi Mardolkar and went up 1-0 with an impressive backhand cross court drop. Trailing 7-12 in the second, Naisha made amends for her short stature with more delightful drops and low returns that helped her close in at 12-14 with a smash.