The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Kashyap and Saina reign supreme

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 16, 2006
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Sport - Badminton

Kashyap and Saina reign supreme

Principal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: P. Kashyap (IOCL) and Saina Nehwal (BPCL) won the men's and women's singles titles respectively in the 28th all-India PSPB inter-unit badminton championship organised by Indian Oil Corporation at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.

Kashyap overcame Nikhil Kanetkar 21-16, 18-21, 21-14 in the men's final that lasted an hour while Saina was just too good for Trupti Murugunde (IOCL) in notching up a 21-15, 21-9 win in under 40 minutes.

The men's final was an exciting affair with Kashyap, a second year B.Com student, calling all the shots. With a wonderful combination of drops and forehand down-the-line smashes, he had his opponent struggling for space.

Despite the best of efforts of Kanetkar to push Kashyap on to the backfoot, the latter proved equal to the task with a series of impressive strokes.

However, in the second game, Kanetkar showed glimpses of his class with a neat display, relying on his deadly backhand. The placements were perfect as he repeatedly unsettled Kashyap after engaging him in net dribbles.

After getting a few tips from coach Pullela Gopi Chand, Kashyap regained his confidence to get the better of his opponent in the decider.

The women's final was more one-sided as Saina was at her clinical best. Trupti seemed to be getting the better of the early exchanges with some neat drops at the net, but Saina never looked back once she moved into top gear. She used her trademark forehand smashes to wrap up the match in no time.

L.V. Subrahmanyam, IAS, gave away the prizes.

The results (finals):

Men: Singles: P. Kashyap (IOCL) bt Nikhil Kanetkar (IOCL) 21-16, 18-21, 21-14. Doubles: Anup Sridhar & Siddarth Jain (ONGC) bt Jaseel P. Ismail & Markose Bristow (IOCL) 21-15, 21-19.

Women: Singles: Saina Nehwal (ONGC) bt Trupti Murugunde (IOCL) 21-15, 21-9. Doubles: Gutta Jwala & Shruthi Kurien (BPCL) bt Aparna Balan & B.R. Meenakshi (OICL) 25-23, 10-21, 21-14.

Veterans: Singles: Dilip Sukhtankar (ONGC) bt Ranjan Gosh (EIL) 21-18, 17-21, 21-16. Doubles: Sanjay Srivastava & Tilak Raj (ONGC) bt Dilip Sukhtankar & Ashok Sharma (ONGC) 21-15, 21-18.

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