The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Nag Vinayak bags a double; Leena Dharpe triumphs

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Wednesday, Aug 29, 2007
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Sport - Badminton

Nag Vinayak bags a double; Leena Dharpe triumphs

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Nag Vinayak of LIC completed a memorable double, winning both the men’s singles and doubles title (partnering Jaison Xavier) as the curtain came on the 9th all India inter-institutional badminton championship at the Karnataka Badminton Association courts here on Tuesday. Leena Dharpe, also of LIC, emerged as the women’s singles champion and LIC, which had won the women’s team title on Sunday, thus swept all the Open event titles that were at stake.

Absorbing rallies

Vinayak’s 21-6, 21-13 victory over his doubles partner Xavier was marked by some absorbing rallies, especially in the second game.

But, Vinayak maintained a distinct advantage with his wily on the line tosses and deep smashes and he kept varying the pace, unsettling Xavier, who made a spate of unforced errors in the first game.

Xavier kept pace with his rival initially, but Vinayak who stretched his lead from 7-5 to 10-5 took control of the first game effectively.

In the second game, Xavier, who came up with some telling half smashes and showed good judgment at the net, whittled down his rival’s lead (8-11). Vinayak, however, changed gears and counter attacked and pinned Xavier to the back court.

The writing was very much on the wall for Xavier as Vinayak moved to the match point with a smash and then sealed the tie with a cross court flick.

Vinayak and Xavier defeated Kishore Kumar and Soumen Bhattacharjee, also of LIC, in the doubles final 21-16, 21-16.

Psychological edge

Leena, who had earlier beaten the top seed, Jyothi Swaroopa in the team event, certainly had the psychological edge over her in the women’s singles final and she won again at 21-16, 21-14.

The two were tied at 8-all in the first game before Swaroopa made a few mishits while attempting to force the pace. Leena, who stretched her lead to 15-9 did not look back.

In the second game, Leena played with a lot more assurance and though her rival cut down her early lead of 6-1 to 6-5, she stayed unfazed and kept the pressure with her accurate returns and emerged as a worthy winner.

M.B.N. Rao, MD, Canara Bank and D.L. Rawal, Executive Director presided and gave away the prizes along with former athlete, Ashwini Nachappa.

The results (finals):