From a qualifier to winning All India bronze, Nagpur's Shourya shines in Telangana

NAGPUR: City shuttler Shourya Madavi hogged the limelight by winning a bronze medal in the All India Sub Junior ranking badminton tournament at Hyderabad, Telangana, on Monday.
Of the record 534 entries that took part in the U-17 girl's section of the seven-day ranking tournament, Shourya entered as a qualifier and surprised a handful of seeded opponents in the main draw before she went down fighting in the semifinals.
On her way to winning the bronze medal, Shourya stunned ninth seeded Delhi shuttler in the opening round of the main draw and sealed her semifinal berth with a stunning win over Rajasthan's eighth seed Sneha Lamba in straight games 21-15, 21-15 to assure herself one of her career's top medal.
Shourya had a nervous start to her campaign as she lost the first game of the qualifier against Vainavi Thanduri of Telangana. Despite losing the first game 8-15, Shourya regained her momentum and brought parity by winning the second game 15-9 and won the exciting decider 15-12 to move up.
Thereafter, there was no looking back for Shourya as she qualified for the main draw without losing a single game. In the second round, Shourya prevailed over Tamilnadu shuttlers Harini Vijaya Baskar 15-3, 15-13 and Bhavanthiga Ramkumar 15-6, 16-14 to qualify for the main draw of 64 shuttlers.
High on confidence after qualifying, Shourya surprised Delhi's ninth seeded Dianka Waldia 21-19, 21-17 in the opening round of the main draw.
In the round of 32, Shourya defeated Sarayu Suryaneni from Telangana 21-18, 21-16 before surprising Rajasthan's eighth seed in the pre-quarterfinal. In a thrill-a-minute quarterfinal, Shourya defeated Karnataka's Suhina Roy 21-19, 21-19 and assured herself a medal from the All India tournament. In the semifinal, Shourya went down fighting against sixth seeded Tanvi Patri of Odisha 6-21, 18-21 and secured a bronze medal.
Shourya practices at Ace Badminton Academy under coach Ashish Rajput.
Arun Lakhani, president of Maharashtra Badminton Association and other members of Nagpur district congratulated Shourya.