Shuttler Malvika in line for double crown

Malvika Bansod was the star performer as the talented city shuttler set for double crown in the PNB Metlife West Zone Junior Badminton Championship held at Goregaon Sports Club in Mumbai on Friday.

The four-day tourney is being organized by Sara Foundation and approved by Badminton Association of India.

Left-hander Malvika was all over the court, hitting some terrific down the line and cross court smashes as she upset second seed Anjana Kumari in straight games 21-10, 21-12 to make the title round in the girls U-17 singles.

The 14-year-old Malvika, a student of Centre Point School, Dabha, will now face top seed Mumbai’s Kalpita Sawant, who made short work of Pune’s Aditi Mahajan 21-12, 21-10.

Earlier, Malvika, who is the top seeded in the U-15 section, outplayed her city-mate Ashani Joshi 21-12, 21-9 to storm into the final.

In the U-11 girls singles semi-final, Tara Shah beat Nagpur’s Nikita Joseph 21-16, 21-15.