Thiruvananthapuram: Joy T.Antony, seeded second, displayed fine grit as he came back from behind to scalp top-seeded Sanave Thomas 17-21, 21-16, 21-18 to claim the men's singles title in the 22nd T.K.V. memorial all-Kerala ranking badminton tournament at the Sree Moolam Club courts here on Sunday.

Sanave Thomas, however, had the consolation of winning the men's doubles title as he partnered Jaison Xavier to defeat the combine of George Thomas and Joy T. Antony 21-15, 21-17 in the final. The day also witnessed top-seeded Merit George finishing her campaign in the women's section with a double. Merit won the singles with an effortless 21-15, 21-11 win over M. Sruthi and then took the doubles title in the company of her sister Miral George. The duo defeated Sruthi and Nima Lakshmi 21-16, 21-19 in the final.

Absorbing affair

As expected, the men's singles final proved to be an all-out attacking game. And what made it all the more exciting was the fine court-craft displayed by Joy and Sanave.

That it was not going to be a straightforward affair was very much evident right from the initial stages of the first set, as Joy with some finely executed shots and good net play, ran away with an early 7-1 lead. However, the lead did not seem to perturb Sanave, who staged a comeback attacking on Joy's backhand consistently. He eventually caught up with his rival at 11-all. The lead changed at least three times thereafter, but after 16-all, it was Sanave who sprung ahead before taking the first set at 21-17.

He then seemed to push himself for a straight-set win and took an early lead in the second set and left his rival exasperated time and again. But Joy drew par at 15 and then pushed the game into the decider, taking the second set 21-16.

The decider

The decider saw the two players trading points in the earlier stages before Joy took a 14-9 lead. But he committed a series of unforced errors as Sanave pressed hard with some lethal smashes and levelled the scores at 16-all. However, Joy stood firm to wrap the final set 21-18. Joy collected the trophy and a cheque for Rs. 5,000, while Sanave won a cash award of Rs. 3,000.

The State Bank of Travancore managing director, K. Sitaramam, was the chief guest at the valedictory function and gave away the prizes.

The results: men's singles (final): Joy T. Antony bt Sanave Thomas 17-21, 21-16, 21-18; semifinals: Joy bt Antony K. Jacob 21-12, 21-13; Sanave bt Ayyappan Krishnan 21-14, 21-14. Doubles (final): Sanave Thomas/ Jaison Xavier bt George Thomas/ Joy T. Antony 21-15, 21-17.

Women's singles (final): Merit George bt M. Sruthi 21-15, 21-11; doubles (final): Merit George/ Miral George bt M. Sruthi/ Nima Lakshmi 21-16, 21-19.

Masters singles (final): Rakesh Sekhar bt Firoz Shah 24-26 (latter conceded); doubles (final): Rakesh Sekhar/ Firoz Shah bt Suresh Kumar/ Anil Kumar 21-15, 21-9.

Veterans' singles (final): Abdul Salam bt Lal Monoy 21-13, 14-21, 21-16; doubles (final): Sunil Kumar/ Suresh Babu bt Percy Joseph/ Abdul Salam 21-16, 15-21, 21-15.

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