Monday, Jan 19, 2004
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Badminton
By Abhijit Sen Gupta
The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board teams which won the men's and women's team titles. — Photo: P.V. Sivakumar
HYDERABAD, JAN. 18. Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) lived up to expectations and retained the Rahimtoola and Chaddha Cups, the symbol of supremacy in the men's and women's team events, in the 59th inter-State zonal and 68th senior National badminton championships at the KVBR indoor stadium here today. In the men's final, PSPB defeated Railways 3-1 while the PSPB women beat Assam 2-0. The only setback PSPB suffered was in the opening singles of the men's event when Chetan Anand lost to Sachin Ratti. The experienced Railway shuttler played a clever game, slowing down the pace and engaging his rival in long rallies, forcing Chetan to lose concentration on a quite a few occasions and give away vital points. The first game was fought hard and Chetan had a slender one or two point lead all the way till 11-9. At that stage, Chetan surged ahead to win 15-11. In the second game, however, Sachin changed tactics and quickly went into a 4-1 lead. Chetan closed the gap to 4-5, but could stop Sachin from clinching the game to take the issue into the decider. In the third game, Chetan led 5-1 but Sachin drew level at 6 and went on to take the lead. Sachin never looked back after that and won the game and match. The loss in the first singles did not dampen the spirits of the PSPB camp. National champion Abhinn Shyam Gupta ensured that PSPB got back on track, outclassing Himanshu Thakkar of Railways 15-1, 15-11 in the second singles. The doubles was also a one-sided affair as P. Gopi Chand and J.B.S. Vidyadhar packed too many guns for the Railway pair of Mitesh Hazarnis and Varun Khanvilkar. All that remained was for Arvind Bhat to clinch the issue in the third singles and he did so with aplomb. Making good use of his height and reach, Bhat defeated Hemant Duggal of Railways without much trouble. Late on Saturday night, Railways defeated Andhra Pradesh 3-2 to enter the final. The women's final was lopsided. In the first singles, the hapless Krishna Deka Raja was all at sea against the in-form Aparna Popat (who celebrated her birthday today). In the doubles too, the PSPB pair of G. Jwala and Shruti Kurien proved far too superior to the Assam duo of Kishna Deka Raja and Oli Deka. The results (team event finals): Men: PSPB beat RSPB 3-1 (Chetan Anand lost to Sachin Ratti 15-11, 7-15, 14-17; Abhinn Shyam Gupta bt Himanshu Thakkar 15-1, 15-11; P. Gopi Chand/J.B.S. Vidyadhar bt Mitesh Hazarnis/Varun Khanvilkar 15-0, 15-5; Arvind Bhat bt Hemant Duggal 15-8, 15-6). Women: PSPB beat Assam 2-0 (Aparna Popat bt Krishna Deka Raja 11-5, 11-0; G. Jwala/Shruthi Kurien bt Krishna Deka Raja/Oli Deka 15-1, 15-1).
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