GSA Diaries: A look at 2019!

It has been a long yet eventful journey for us at Golden Shuttle Academy (GSA) since 2009, the year of its founding; our first branch was operational at U.S. Mallya Indoor Stadium, Mangalore – starting with badminton coaching for beginners, developing our methodologies to train our competitive students and watch them grow as players.

 

We have recently launched our website to enable us to reach out to all badminton lovers. Our website is a reflection of the daily happenings and events at Golden Shuttle Academy (GSA). Our blogs shall be updated with details of special events at GSA, trending topics in the field of badminton and sports in general.

 

The year 2019 has been an eventful one as our student, Ms Akansha Pai has been selected into the Karnataka State team for the National championships. Akansha and her partner are currently ranked 1st at the State Level in the U-17 Girls Doubles Category and Akansha is ranked 3rd in the Mixed Doubles category. Ms Akansha S Pai won the State Championship in the U-19 Doubles category & achieved the runner up position in the U-17 Doubles Category. Earlier this season, despite being 15 years of age, Ms Akansha and her partner put up a good 3 set fight against the national level top-seeded players. She also bagged a total of 8 medals (4 gold & 4 silver medals) at various other State level ranking tournaments. Akansha participated in the AICS 2019 and emerged as winners.

 

 

Ms Anannya Joishy, Mr Abhijnan Nagaraj, Mr Gaurav Ajila, Mr Madhav Nayak and Mr Alok Gowda won the National Level Vidyabharathi tournament in their respective categories and qualified for the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) held at Aurangabad, India earlier this year. For the second time in a row, Ms Anannya Joishy has qualified for the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) this year too. The event was held in Madhya Pradesh and Anannya (Team Karnataka) won the runners up position in the same. 

 

Mr Sagar and Ms Nidhi are currently ranked 4th at the State level in the Mixed Doubles category. Our senior students, Mr Abhijnan Nagaraj, Mr Sagar, Mr Chethan and Mr Nithin won Mangalore University Championship 2019. They won 3 straight games out of 5 games to win the championship. Mr Madhav added a total of 6 medals at various levels this season (5 winners & 1 runner-up). Mr Abhijnan Nagaraj and Mr Arush Patrao also gave good performances. 

 

 

Ms Anannya Joishy exhibited fine games at the State and National level and emerged as runner up in tournaments at both levels. Anannya Joishy along with her partner Ms Jayanthika Rathore exhibited a fine performance in a gripping 3-set semi-final match against the top seeds in the U15 Girls Doubles State Championship tournament. Ms Anannya obtained the runner up position in the U-17 category at the State Level Sports and Games Competitions for School Children.

 

Mr. Aarav Maindan qualified for the Vidyabharathi 2019 Nationals held at Delhi later this year. Our students, Saharsh Prabhu & Sathvik Prabhu participated in the AICS 2019 tournament and emerged victorious. Saharsh and Aarav have performed well in the doubles categories at the State level tournaments, putting up extremely good fights. They are currently ranked 5 at the State level in the U-15 Doubles category.

 

 

Mr Jaideep Lokesh was the winner in the U-17 Boys Singles category in the Open State Level Badminton tournament held in Udupi. Jaideep along with other students of Golden Shuttle Academy – Mr Armaan Salih, Mr Ajay Kamath, Mr Drith K & Mr Sammith played the Vidyabharathi tournaments. After having won the zonal level they qualified for the Nationals which was held in Delhi earlier this year.

 

Our students have brought out the fact that sportsmen are not born but are made through tests of their determination, perseverance, and spirit. Champions do not become champions when they win the event but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The Golden Shuttle with all our coaches and staff shall always strive towards making our players champions of the sport and excellent human beings.

 

*P.S: All mentioned rankings are as on 05 October 2019.