Quickly after the Maharashtra doubles U19 pair of Om Gavandi and Sanidhya Sunil Ekade accomplished a 15-6, 15-5 win over Punjab’s Nirmaan Jain and Arnav Negi to enter the second qualification spherical of Yonex Dawn thirty first Smt Krishna Khaitan Memorial All India Junior Rating Prize Cash Event, the duo referred to as up their coach and former nationwide champion Akshay Dewalkar.
17-year-old Gavandi and 16-year-old Ekade had began taking part in doubles simply this 12 months on the insistence of Dewalkar and the duo needed to inform the coach about their first win in a nationwide rating event on the Tau Devi Lal Sports activities Complicated.
“My earlier accomplice Sarvesh Yadav was injured and Akshay sir had suggested me to play doubles with Sanidhya since his internet recreation compliments my again courtroom recreation. We had performed a few occasions on the state degree however by no means at nationwide degree. We each know that it’s nonetheless an experimenting stage for us however then wins like these even in qualification rounds give us the arrogance that we’re complimenting one another’s gameplan in doubles. One has to assume like one thoughts as a doubles pair and it’s simply the beginning for each of us,” shares Gavandi.
Whereas Gavandi’s badminton journey began in Nagpur eight years in the past along with his father Group Captain Atul B Gavandi posted there at the moment, Ekade began the game on the insistence of his agriculturist father Sunik Ekade in Washim.
A younger Gavandi would turn into the U-13 nationwide champion in Tezpur, Assam in 2018 earlier than he paired up with Sarvesh Yadav to win the bronze within the U-17 nationals in Hyderabad in 2023. With Gavandi being five-time Maharashtra champion in singles sub-junior and junior classes, coaches at Thane Badminton Academy, inspired him to compete in doubles beginning 2019.
“I had at all times focussed on being a singles participant since my junior days and the U13 nationwide title made the coaches imagine that I can enhance as a singles participant. However after they needed me to compete in doubles as nicely with Yadav in recent times, my singles recreation additionally helped me on the again courtroom recreation. The state titles in addition to a few essential draw finishes in nationwide rating tournaments aside from the U17 nationals bronze made me take into consideration doubles too as a specialisation. Sure, my focus is on singles and I do know that I have to resolve about solely competing in doubles if I get success in just a few years,” shares Gavandi.
As for Ekade, his focus has at all times been on doubles and the teenager had paired up with Nidhish Extra to win the runner-up trophy in Maharashtra State U-17 Championships final 12 months, the place they misplaced to Gavandi/Yadav.
Ekade, who has now shifted to Thane since final one 12 months, additionally has paired up with Aditi Gawade and Prakriti Sharma on the state tournaments to have two finals and one semi-final appearances within the final 12 months. “I’m a internet participant and that’s the factor which coaches have labored upon. However then to have a powerful again courtroom participant is what I wanted in my doubles pairing and I hope to seek out that with Om. I idolise the doubles pair of Kevin Sukamuljo Sanjaya and Marcus Gideon and we perceive that the pair began taking part in collectively after making an attempt completely different companions. As a junior doubles participant, one tries completely different companions but when we will discover consistency and success, we’ll play collectively. We prepare on the identical academy and that’s a bonus for us,” says Ekade.