The Hindu : Sport : Joy, Sanave in title clash

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Friday, Sep 01, 2006

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Sport - Sports : General

Joy, Sanave in title clash

Principal Correspondent

KOCHI: Ernakulam's Joy T. Antony weathered a strong early challenge from Kerala junior champion Sankar P. Gopan and entered the men's singles final of the 37th Seshasayee State senior badminton championship at the FACT Udyogamandal Club, Eloor, on Thursday.

The top-seeded Cochin Port Trust player will meet doubles international Sanave Thomas (Central Excise) in Friday's final. The second-seeded Sanave brushed aside Alwyn Francis in straight games.

The women's event also went on the expected lines with Kozhikode's Aparna Balan and Thrissur's Merit George, the top two seeds, advancing to the title round.

The match between Joy and Sankar was expected to be a tame affair as the latter was making his State senior debut. But Sankar began with a flourish. He slowed the pace of the game and then pushed Joy to a corner, aiming at the top seed's suspect backhand.

With Sankar keeping the shuttle low, Joy could not unleash his lethal smashes often and he lost the opening game.

But the match turned around sharply in the second game. It was close early on, but Sankar, having given his all in the opener, appeared weary. He went into errors, tapping the bird frequently into the net. Joy, happy and relieved with the opening, won the rest of the match comfortably.

The results: Singles:

Men: Semifinals: Joy T. Antony (CPT, Ekm) bt Sankar P. Gopan (Ekm) 12-21, 21-10, 21-10; Sanave Thomas (C.E., Ekm) bt Alwyn Francis (Ekm) 21-13, 21-15. (Quarterfinals): Joy bt T.K. Jamshed (Kzd) 21-14, 21-12; Sankar bt Ayyappan Krishnan (Tvm) 21-19, 22-20; Alywn bt Antony K. Jacob (Ekm) 21-19, 17-21, 21-17; Sanave bt C.K. Rajesh (Pkd) 21-8, 21-10.

Doubles: Semifinal: Sanave Thomas/ Jaison Xavier (Ekm) bt Ayyappan Krishnan/ Tariq Mohammed (Tvm) 21-14, 21-18.

Women: Semifinals: Aparna Balan (Kzd) bt Nima Lakshmi (Tsr) 21-9, 21-7; Merit George (Tsr) bt M. Sruthi (Kzd) 21-10, 17-21, 21-13. (Quarterfinals): Aparna bt M. Lakshmi (Ktm) 21-2, 21-3; Nima bt Miral George (Tsr) 22-20, 25-23; Sruthi bt R. Sreeji (Klm) 21-10, 21-11; Merit w/o Annie Cherian (Kzd).

Doubles: Semifinals: Merit George/ Miral George (Tsr) bt M. Lakshmi (Ktm)/ R. Sreeju (Klm) 21-4, 21-5; Nima Lakshmi (Tsr)/ M. Sruthi (Kzd) bt Anumol/ Linimol (Ekm) 21-8, 21-15.

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