The Hindu : Sport : Sanave, Aparna regain State titles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 02, 2006

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Sanave, Aparna regain State titles

Principal Correspondent

KOCHI: Doubles internationals Sanave Thomas and Aparna Balan regained the men's and women's singles titles respectively at the Seshasayee Kerala State senior badminton championships, which concluded at the FACT Udyogamandal Club on Friday.

Both the finals were lopsided. Ernakulam's second-seeded Sanave beat top-seeded Joy T. Antony in 35 minutes, while Aparna crushed Merit George in almost the same time.

Joy, a gritty fighter and a great retriever, thrives in long rallies. He can just wear down players. Sanave had lost to Joy in three long games in Thiruvananthapuram early this month. But on Friday, a change in strategy brought him rich rewards. He opened with a fast and furious game, landed plenty of smashes in and virtually silenced his opponent into submission.

"That clicked. Since the first game was easy, I could play at the same pace in the second game and win the match. Taking Joy to three games in very dangerous," said Sanave who won the title after three years. There were some smart duels at the net and some great jump smashes, but after conceding big leads in both games, Joy could not claw his way back.

Sanave also bagged the doubles title, pairing up with Jaison Xavier, while Thrissur's George sisters, Merit and Miral, took the women's doubles title.

The results: Men's singles final: Sanave Thomas bt Joy T. Antony 21-13, 21-13. For third place: Alwyn Francis (Ekm) bt Sanker P. Gopan (Ekm) 21-9, 21-15. Doubles final: Sanave Thomas/ Jaison Xavier (Ekm) bt Joy T. Antony/ George Thomas (Ekm) 21-12, 21-11. Semifinal: Joy Antony/ George Thomas bt Sanker P. Gopan/ Alwyn Francis (Ekm) 21-15, 21-14.

Women's singles final: Aparna Balan (Kzd) bt Merit George (Tsr) 21-14, 21-8. For third place: M. Sruthi (Kzd) bt Nima Lakshmi (Tsr) 21-13, 11-11 retired hurt. Doubles final: Merit George/ Miral George (Tsr) bt M. Sruthi (Kzd)/ Nima Lakshmi (Tsr) 21-17, 21-15.

Mixed doubles final: Merit George (Tsr)/ Jaison Xavier (Ekm) bt Miral George (Tsr)/ Sanave Thomas (Ekm) 21-15, 21-16.

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