It was mixed fortunes for Aparna Popat, who made the final in one category but lost out in the semi-finals of another in the G D Birla Memorial Masters Inter-Club Badminton tournament, promoted by Badminton Gurukul and hosted by the Bombay Gymkhana.Partnering Naheed Divecha, the top seeded duo got the better of Anagha Deshmukh and Smita Salgaonkar 21-14, 21-2 to enter the 75+ women’s doubles final. Taking the court again for the Uni Doubles semis, Aparna and Naval Bir Kumar went down 16-21, 13-21 to the second seeds Rajesh D’Souza and Bibhash Chatterjee.Mangrish Palekar made two finals and will face another international in Nigel D’Souza in the 85+ men’ doubles. Palekar and Deepak Jaitley, the top seeds beat Siddharth Gupta and Sushant Shetty 21-9, 21-10, while D’Sa and Rohan Radhakrishnan, the second seeds, got the better of Kartik Shah and Maulik Jasapara 25-23, 21-19.Palekar also made the 45+ men’s doubles final in partnership with Vikrant, and will clash with Sushant Shetty and Vishal Manchanda in the final.RESULTSMD 85+ (Men’s Doubles 85+) – SFDeepak Jaitly / Mangirish Palekar [1] bt Sidharth Gupta / Sushant Shetty – 21-9, 21-10; Nigel D’Sa / Rohan Radhakrishnan [2] bt Kartik Shah / Maulik Jasapara – 25-23, 21-19Uni Doubles – SFNaheed Divecha / Shailesh Daga [1] bt Abhay Naik / Anoop Shukla – 21-13, 21-11; Bibhash Chatterjee / Rajesh D Souza [2] bt Aparna Popat / Naval Bir Kumar – 21-16, 21-13MD 45 (Men’s Doubles 45+) – SFMangirish Palekar / Vikrant bt George Koshy / Vivyek Kanchan – 21-12, 21-14; Sushant Shetty / Vishal Manchanda bt Kartik Shah / Maulik J – 21-9, 21-16WD 75+ (Women’s Doubles 75+) – SFAparna Popat / Naheed Divecha [1] bt Anagha Deshmukh / Smita Salgaonkar – 21-14, 21-2; Mrs. Palkan Dave / Shweta Thakur [2] bt Kiran Shete / Ramya Venkat – 21-11, 21-18Team Championship 2026 – SFGoregaon Sports Club A bt BG Team B – 2-0; PJ Hindu Masters Sports Club bt Flickers – 2-1; WCG Team White bt Goregaon Sports B Team – 2-0; VS Tigers – Team A bt NSCI Team A – 2-0.
