Darklords emerge champions at national-level Enthu Badminton League in Goa

After a lengthy break in badminton, Goa was host to a sporting event that was refreshingly different. “Enthu Cutlets”, the world’s largest social networking group of badminton enthusiasts, recently organized a national-level badminton tournament at Multipurpose Stadium in Peddem, Mapusa.

Badminton players in the age group of 35 and above competed in a league, which was conducted in collaboration with the Panjim Badminton Club, an affiliated unit of Goa Badminton Association.

The four-day event, powered by Adidas Badminton and Parama Heartbeat Sports, witnessed some scintillating badminton with many national medalists competing for the top honors. National-level shuttlers Sandhya Melasheemi, Ashutosh Pednekar, S Banu, Bibhash Chatterjee, Sandeep Kanji, Kamlesh Kanji, Satish Kudchadkar and Parimelazhagan PJ were part of the different teams. The participating eight teams were involved in a round-robin league team format, followed by finals and third-place play-offs.

Enthu Badminton League teams Atomic Blasters, Baddie Squad, Birdie Hunters, Darklords, Mischievous Mammoths, Ninja Smashers, Power Maulers and Royal Lions played once against each other. Each tie consisted of seven doubles matches played in relay format. Around a hundred players from all over the country took part in the competition.

Darklords beat Mischievous Mammoths 147-140 in a thrilling badminton league final

After three days of intense competitive action, Darklords, led by Goa’s Kamlesh Kanji, emerged champions of the event, edging out Mischievous Mammoths 147-140 in a pulsating contest.

The third-place match was won by the Atomic Blasters, who defeated the Royal Lions with a similar 147-140 score-line. Prizes worth Rs 1.2 lakhs were presented to various winners of the 4-day event.

Darklords proved their class in the four-day league

“Matches were exciting and engaging, all of us were looking forward to squaring off on the courts once again after missing out on the action for many months,” stated Bibhash Chatterjee, the founder of Enthu Cutlets group.

Bibhash, who is a national medalist in the men’s 50 plus category, added:

“The entire organizing committee has worked very hard to make it a seamless and fun tournament. And it can be seen in the smiles of the participants."

Sandeep Heble, the secretary of Goa Badminton Association and organizing secretary of the Enthu event, also shared his thoughts on the event.

“At the eleventh hour, permissions granted to us for hosting the event at Campal were revoked owing to some objections and apprehensions by some groups from Panaji. However, the Chief Minister stepped in and permitted us to have the event in Peddem. We are extremely thankful to Pramod Sawant and the Sports Authority of Goa for taking such a considerate decision in the larger interest of sports.

"We have many national medal winners here, some of them have represented India at the World Masters Championships, apart from champions from different States."

The finals were graced by Sumeet Soni, CEO of Parama Heartbeat Sports Private Ltd and official distributor of Adidas Badminton, Rajesh Kolwalkar, director SAI Traders, Lydia Barreto, junior international shuttler and Sandeep Heble.

Champion team (Darklords)

Kamlesh Kanji (captain), Nitin Akhade, Shailesh Dias, Pravin Upadhyay, T Srinivas, Bhavin Parekh, Prasad Rajvaidya, Ashok Kumar B, Sashi Kumar Ayer, Savio Lamb, Geetha.

Runners-up team (Mischievous Mammoths)

Parimelazhagan PJ (captain), Sanjay Kumar, Benny K Maliyekkal, Rubesh Krishnan, Velayutham A, Pravin Sane, Stanley Fernandes, Gopal Kukalekar, Ravi Srivastava, Devidas Arcot, Sandeep Heble, Vinod Palyekar, S Banu.