Malvika advances in Thailand Open

Ritika-Nitin duo enters final

Nagpur shuttler Ritika Thaker stormed into the summit clash at the ongoing Yonex All India Senior RankingTtournament at the Jwala Gutta Academy , Hyderabad. Nagpur doubles specialist paired up with Nitin Kumar of Delhi for the first time and marked her stamp of authority by making it to the finals thus announcing her arrival with a new partner. In the round of 32 Ritika and Nitin beat Rishi V and Dharuniga S in straight games , the score reading 21/7 and 21/12.

In the round of 16 they faced Ayush Makhija and Diksha Choudhary who are regular partners since a long time after wining the first game at 21/10 Ritika Nitin lost a closely fought second game at 20-22, making amends to their game in the decider they played attacking badminton to easily win 21-13 and wrap up the match.

In the quarter finals they faced Maharashtra pair and third seeds Deep Rambhiya and Sonali Mirkhelkar , Ritika Nitin lost the first game easily at 15/21 they changed their game and plan, to wrap up the other two tough games and the match with the scores 15/21, 21/19 and 22/20, the match lasted for an hour and five minutes.

In the semis they faces qualifiers and giant killer Dhileepan V and Pranavi N , this pair had upset two seeded pairs on the way to the semis, Ritika and Nitin planned a almost flawless game and executed well to win in straight games to reach the finals, the semis score reading 21/19 and 21/18. In the finals they take on top seed Sathwik Reddy and Radhika Sharma.

Ritika trains under Arun Vishnu here at the Arundhati Arun Badminton Academy, she has thanked her parents , coach Arun Vishnu, for the guidance and support, she has also thank coach Utkarsh Arora who is Nitin's coach was there during the matches to guide Ritika and Nitin.