The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Kashyap and Saina corner glory

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 04, 2004

Sport

Sport - Badminton

Kashyap and Saina corner glory

By Our Special Correspondent

NANDYAL, AUG. 3. Young blood was infused into the Andhra Pradesh State senior badminton championships by the triumphs of teenagers P. Kashyap and Saina Nehwal in the men's and women's finals respectively, the latter in the process bagging a double at the Nandi Pipes indoor stadium here on Tuesday. Kashyap overcame a vastly more experienced C.M. Sashidhar 11-15, 15-7, 15-12, while Nehwal crushed B. Srilaxmi 11-3, 11-2.

An adventurous streak marked Kashyap's game, right from backhand flick serves to the smashes that he thumped whenever an opportunity arose.

Sashidhar was more circumspect, his serves high as were many of his returns. Lengthy rallies proved advantageous to the Railway player, while Kashyap kept the exchanges short to gain the upper hand.

A string of net kills put the pressure on Sashidhar as Kashyap showed greater variety in service and returns, especially with some delightfully delicate drops.

In contrast to the long-drawn men's final, Saina made short work of Srilaxmi. A semblance of resistance by Srilaxmi in the early stages of the second game, Saina ground to dust.

K. Durga Prasad, President, Andhra Pradesh Badminton Association, who was the chief guest, gave away the prizes.

The results:

Men: Singles: Final: P. Kashyap (APBA) bt C.M. Shashidhar (APBA) 11-15, 15-7, 15-12.

Semifinals: P. Kashyap bt K. Srinivasan (Hyd) 15-11, 15-13, C.M. Sashidhar bt S.D.S. Krishna (W.G.) 15-5, 16-17, 15-5. Third place playoff: K. Srinivasan w/o. from S.D.S. Krishna.

Doubles: Final: K. Srinivasan/N.N. Vinayak (Hyd) bt B. Nagaraj/Kishore Kumar (APBA) 12-15, 15-6, 15-8.

Semifinals: B. Nagaraj/Kishore Kumar (APBA) bt Sarat Palanki/Jayan James (Kri) 15-5, 15-10, K. Srinivasan/N.N. Vinayak (Hyd) bt Uday Bhasker/Ramesh Naidu (Viz) 7-15, 15-7, 15-0.

Women: Singles: Final: Saina Nehwal (Hyd) bt B. Sril Laxmi (Kri) 11-3, 11-2. Semi-final: Sri Laxmi bt Sarada Govardhini (Hyd) 11-9, 7-11, 11-2.

Third place playoff: Sarada Govardhini bt A.L. Aswini Chowdary (Kri) 11-1, 11-3.

Doubles: Final: Saina Nehwal/Sarada Reddy (Hyd) bt T. Sowmya/Deepti Shalini (Kri) 13-15, 15-5, 15-6.

Semifinals: Deepti Shalini/T. Sowmya bt Sarada Govardhini/Deepti Priyadarshini (Hyd) 13-15, 17-15, 15-4, Saina Nehwal/G. Sarada Reddy (Hyd) bt B. Sri Laxmi/Ashwini Chowdary (Kri) 15-7, 15-3.

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