The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Thomas, Trupti emerge champions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 19, 2004

Sport

Sport - Badminton

Thomas, Trupti emerge champions

KOCHI, JULY 18. Thomas Kurian and Trupti Murgunde, both former junior National champions and from the strong Petroleum team, bagged the men's and women's singles titles at the Servo fourth RSC `Play for Gold' South India Open badminton tournament at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Sunday evening.

Thomas overcame a late charge from defending champion K.A. Aneesh 15-3, 15-12 while Trupti brushed aside her doubles partner Fathima Nazneen Mohammed (Kerala) 11-3, 11-1.

The men's final between the two Kerala-born stars, popular for their attacking style, began on a dull note but warmed up nicely in the second game which witnessed many long rallies. Aneesh, the Kerala champion, trailed 8-13 but bounced back strongly to close the gap at 12-13 before losing.

Fathima was much slower than Trupti, the India No.1, and her opponent pushed and pulled her shrewdly to collect points comfortably. Later Fathima and Trupti, who have an impressive record in national women's doubles, added the RSC title with a comfortable victory over Thrissur's George sisters, Merit and Miral.

Kozhikode's M. Sruthi bagged three titles in the girls' section (under-19 singles, under-16 singles and doubles) while Arun Vishnu and Thrissur's P.C. Thulasi picked a double each.

The Indian Oil Corporation DGM, B. Ashok, gave away the gold coins to the winners.

The results (finals): Men: singles: Thomas Kurian (ONGC, Chennai) bt K.A. Aneesh (Central Excise, Kochi) 15-3, 15-12.

Boys: Under-19: singles: Sankar P. Gopan (RSC) bt Alwin Francis (Tsr) 15-6, 15-4. Doubles: Alwin Francis/Hershen (Tsr) bt Arun Vishnu/Nidhin (Kzd) 15-11, 17-15.

Under-16: singles: Arun Vishnu (Kzd) bt Dileep T. Jacob (RSC) 15-7, 15-7. Doubles: Arun Vishnu/Ram (Kzd) bt Dileep (RSC)/Neeraj (Kzd) 15-1, 15-2.

Under-13: singles: H.S. Prannoy (Tvm) bt A. Ashok (TN) 15-6, 15-8. Doubles: A. Naresh/Pradeep (AP) bt Sunjith (Kzd)/Muralikrishnan (Tvm) 15-9, 15-3.

Masters: singles: George Thomas (RSC) bt Firoz Shah (AG's) 15-5, 15-9. Doubles: George Thomas/Suresh Thomas (RSC) bt John of Matha/Bose Ninan (RSC) 15-8, 15-7.

Veteran men: singles: Philip Benzy (CPT) bt K.J. Roy (Tsr) 15-3, 15-5.

Women: singles: Trupti Murgunde (IOC, Bangalore) bt Fathima Nazneen Mohammed (Tvm) 11-3, 11-1. Doubles: Trupti Murgunde/Fathima Mohammed bt Miral George/Merit George (Tsr) 15-10, 15-6.

Girls: Under-19: singles: M. Sruthi (Kzd) bt Miral George (Tsr) 11-7, 11-2.

Under-16: singles: M. Sruthi (Kzd) bt Aswathy Mary Mathew (TN) 1-11, 11-7, 11-8. Doubles: M. Sruthi/S. Sindhu (Kzd) bt Aswathy/Priya (TN) 15-13, 5-15, 15-4.

Under-13: singles: P.C. Thulasi (Tsr) bt Daya Elsa Jacob (RSC) 11-3, 11-7. Doubles: Thulasi (Tsr)/Linimol bt Tanya (Kar)/Daya Elsa Jacob (RSC) 12-15, 15-11, 17-16. — Our Principal Correspondent

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