City’s Ritika Thaker and Navaneeth Bokka of Hyderabad came a step ahead from the last tournament they played. The last tournament was Uganda International where they claimed the bronze medal last week. Playing the Egypt International 2024 in Cairo the Indians claimed the silver medal after going down narrowly in the finals.
Facing top seeds and world no 44 in the finals Koceila Mammeri and Tanina Mammeri, The India duo gave their best but fell short and lost the finals 21/23 and 17/21.
They started their tournament with a facile win over Egypt pair of Ashraf Aly and Elgendy Hadia with the score reading 21/9 and 21/4. In the second round they beat Danielius B and Jore K with the score 21/9 and 21/11. Growing in confidence the Indians got better of Thai USA pair of Tovonnasakem S and Airi Oku in straight games 21/15 and 21/11. In the semi finals they faces the Malaysian pair of Ashraf Zakarai and Lin Xuan, who had won the Unganda International 2024, playing to their full potential the Indians beat the Malaysian in 3 games with the score reading 21/17, 17/21 , and after leading in the decider 18/9 the Malaysians retired .
Ritika and Navaneeth practice at Suchitra Academy , Hyderabad. Speaking on the occasion Ritika said she is very thankful to her parents , Suchitra Academy, Mr Pradeep Raju, their coaches Yonathan and Faizal, Ajay Dayal at Nagpur where she plays when in Nagpur. She has also specially thanked Mr. Kamal Agrawal of Haldiram group for his support.