It was a silver lining for Nagpur’s pride Ritika Thaker and her Hyderabad partner Navaneeth Bokka when they clinched the Silver medal at the Bangladesh International Challenge 2024 underway here in Dhaka.
The Indian pair faced off against the seasoned Singapore duo of Hee Yong Terry and Jin Yu Jia, with Hee Yong having competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics and the Asian Games in China. Despite a strong effort, Thaker and Bokka couldn’t match their opponents and fell short with scores of 14/21 and 16/21.
After the final, Ritika spoke about the crucial mistakes that cost them the match. “In both games, we were neck to neck, but a few errors allowed our opponents to gain the upper hand and convert them,” she said. “We were leading in the first half of the first game, but we need to reduce our mistakes to improve our game.” She added that they would plan to address this with their coaches back in Hyderabad.
Although happy with the Silver, Ritika admitted that winning Gold would have been more fulfilling. She expressed gratitude to Suchitra Academy, Mr. Pradeep Raju, all the coaches, Ajay Dayal and Ajay Dayal Badminton Academy, NDBA, MBA, and most importantly, her family for their constant support.