SHILLONG: It was not an ideal day for Meghalaya in the team event of the 12th South Asian Games test event at the NEHU, SAI Special Area Games in Shillong on Monday as the hosts were ousted in the sub-junior boys’ semifinal by Manipur.
Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh later went on to bag the top honours in the sub-junior boys and girls category team events respectively on Monday. In the sub-junior boys team event Manipur beat Assam 3-0 while in the girls’ team event in the same category Arunachal beat Assam 3-1.
Hosts Meghalaya, meanwhile, were beaten 3-1 by Manipur.
In the first singles match of the semi-final round, Meghalaya’s Mebanker beat Manipur’s Manjit Singh 21-13, 26-24. However, in the second and third singles’ matches, Meghalaya’s Hrisami Passah and Rituraj Nag went down to Manipur’s Dingku Singh and Chandrajit Singh respectively. While Passah lost in straight games (21-9, 21-15), Nag made a comeback in the second set but finally went down 21-17, 18-21, 21-4 to Chandrajit. In the first doubles match, meanwhile, Manjit Singh and Dingku Singh beat Meghalaya’s Rituraj Nag and Mebanker 21-14, 21-15.
Manipur took firm control in the finals of the sub junior boys’ category with Dingku Singh beating Assam’s Farhaz Hussain in straight games (21-15, 21-17) and Manipur’s Chandrajit Singh backing it up with another straight sets victory over Assam’s Dhritish Talukdar (21-3, 21-14) in a one-sided affair. Manjit and Dingku wrapped it up for Manipur beating Assam’s Abishek and Pragyanjyoti 20-22, 21-16, 21-16 in the first doubles match of the final.
In the girls’ sub-junior finals, Assam’s Suzen Burhagohain came back in style to beat Arunachal’s Taring Yania 19-21, 21-19, 21-14. However, the remaining Arunachal shuttlers won their respective games to seal the finals 3-1 in their favour.
While Arunachal’s Laa Yajum and Pinky Karki beat their rivals in straight sets in singles ties, they repeated the feat in the doubles match beating Assam’s Suzen and Rishika 21-3, 21-11.
