NAGPUR: A day after city's Ritika Thaker steered Maharashtra to the final, the confident women shuttlers stunned experienced Airports Authority of India (AAI) 3-0 and emerged as the national team champions in the 76th inter-state badminton championship at Guwahati on Tuesday.
In what ended as a lop-sided summit clash, Shruti Mundada gave Maharashtra a flying start when she caused the biggest upset of the championship by toppling Tanya Hemanth in a thrilling opening singles match that lasted for an hour and 23 minutes. Shruti surprised Tanya 23-21, 23-25, 21-18. The second singles match too was an intense battle where Maharashtra's Alisha Naik got the better of Mansi Singh 21-18, 12-21, 21-19 in an exciting 46-minute clash.