WINNING WAYS: Chetan Anand is all concentration in the badminton men's team final against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Tuesday.

COLOMBO: India won the men and women's team titles at the expense of host Sri Lanka to garner the remaining two gold medals in the badminton event of the South Asian Games here on Tuesday.

Even though the 3-0 winning margin conveyed comfortable victories for the Indians, they played to the galleries to liven up the mood of the spectators. With drums and trumpets in attendance, the boisterous crowd had come prepared to the Sugathadasa indoor stadium. And they were in good numbers notwithstanding the general traffic dislocation in the city following the detection of an unexploded bomb on a busy thoroughfare.

Not at his stylish best here, Chetan was caught in a quagmire of errors against the willing fighter in Niluka Karunaratne. The Indian began well but midway in the second game found his smashes missing their range and the taps to the backcourt crossing the baseline. For one who had until then displayed his control at the net and in judging the flight of the bird, Chetan suddenly began to do everything wrong. The second game slipped from his grasp.

The third went on a tense note as he conceded the lead and trailed 12-15 with the decibel level between points reaching a crescendo in the hall. At stake was the reputation of a player who stands 24th in the world ranking. Chetan shrugged aside the indifferent approach in time to level at 15 points. A net drop and then a down-the-line smash perked him up. The rest was easy for the experienced Chetan.

Short work

The doubles pair of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar made short work of Edirisingh and Jayakody. Southpaw Nikhil Kanetkar then came on to down Niluka's younger brother Dinuka in straight games even as the local boy provided a few `moments of thrill' for the partisan crowd.

In comparison only Krishna Raja looked tormented in the women's section. The former National junior champion and one whom coach Ganguly Prasad considers a class talent, looked anything but that in those tense moments when both Nadeesha and the crowd noise undid her. She conceded a game in a heap of errors but steadied herself in time to ensure India did not play the doubles. Earlier Trupti Murgunde and B.R. Meenakshi breezed away to comfortable wins without much sweat to help India take a quick 2-0 lead.

Pakistan and Nepal were the bronze medal winners in both sections.

The results (final): Men: India beat Sri Lanka 3-0 (Chetan Anand bt Niluka Karunaratne 21-11, 8-21, 21-17; Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar bt Thushara Edirisinghe and Duminda Jayakody 21-12, 21-8; Nikhil Kanetkar bt Dinuka Karunaratne 21-10, 21-16).

Women: India beat Sri Lanka 3-0 (Trupti Murgunde bt Thilini Jayasinghe 21-10, 21-11; B.R. Meenakshi bt Renu Chandrika De Silva 21-12, 21-7; Krishna D. Raja bt Nadeesha Gayanthi 21-14, 21-17).

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