MSSA Badminton: Tanishq-Malhar pair power Thakur into final

Malhar Joshi (left) and Tanishq Saxena are all smiles at the Cricket Club of India yesterday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Tanishq Saxena combined well with teammate Malhar Joshi to help Thakur Vidya Mandir (Kandivli) overcome Parle Tilak Vidyalaya (Vile Parle) 2-1 in a tense boys' team championship semi-final of the Mumbai Schools Sports Association-organised inter-school badminton tournament at the Cricket Club of India yesterday.

Parle Tilak took a 1-0 lead when Atharva Joshi defeated Thakur Vidya Mandir's Malhar 21-14, 21-10 in the opening singles tie, before Tanishq rescued the team with a spirited performance.

Then, Tanishq tamed Soham Phatak of Thakur Vidya Mandir 21-14, 21-9 in the second singles to level the scores at 1-1 and force the decider. In the deciding doubles encounter, the Thakur combo of Tanishq and Malhar showed good understanding and effectively switched positions as they controlled the rallies and quelled the challenge from the Parle Tilak pair of Atharva and Soham and coasted to a 21-8, 21-17 win to seal a place in the final.

In the title round, Thakur Vidya Mandir will take on Atomic Energy (Anushakti Nagar) which beat Arya Vidya Mandir (Juhu) 2-0 in the second semi-finals. The contest for the girl's crown will be between Dr S Radhakrishnan International School (Borivli) and Jamnabai Narsee (Juhu-Vile Parle). In the semi-final matches, Dr S Radhakrishnan School blanked JB Vachha (Dadar) 2-0 and Jamnabai scored an identical win against JB Vachha (Fort).

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