Nagpur: The talented shuttler of Nagpur, Nikkita Joseph has been selected in the Indian team for the 19th International School Sports Foundation (ISF) World School Under-18 Girls Badminton Championship to be held at Normandy, France from May 14 to22.
Nikkita is the only shuttler in Maharashtra being selected for the prestigious tournament. Around 3,500 participants from 70 countries are expected to participate in 20 sports disciplines. From India around 250 players will be taking part in the ISF Championship. The School Games Federation of India (SGFI) conducted selection trials for boys in Bhubaneswar and girls in Pune. Total 47 girl shuttlers from all over India participated in selection trials in which Nikkita defeated her opponents Delhi’s Priya Singh 15- 12, 15-12 and then got the better of M S Eshita of Telangana State 15-10, 15-12.
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Saturday 28 Dec. 2024
In the pre-quarterfinal, Nikkita recorded a hard-fought win over Haryana’s Jiya Rawat 15-11, 9-15, 15-11 and then beat Flora Engineer of Gujarat 15-13, 15-9 to book a spot in the Indian team for ISF Championship. The other girls from India for the ISF Championship are Devika Sihag of Chandigarh, S Hashini of Tamil Nadu and Pretana N Shet of Karanataka.
Nikkita, who trains under experienced Badminton World Federation (BWF) certified coach Chetak Khedikar at Divisional Sports Complex Mankapur, is a player of Shuttlers Craze Sports Academy Nagpur. She is ranked 4th in Badminton Association of India (BAI) rankings in girls Under-17 doubles. In 2017, Nikkita won gold medal in School Games Federation of India (SGFI) Nationals. Nikkita, a class 11th student of Hislop College, has been doing well in the last couple of months. She was the semi-finalist in the Senior State Badminton Championship held in Pune.
Incidentally, Nikkita turned 17 on Wednesday and celebrated her birthday in style.
