The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Guru Sai Dutt completes a hat-trick

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Sunday, Oct 07, 2007
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Guru Sai Dutt completes a hat-trick

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

CHAMPIONS: The various winners of the 6th all-India junior ranking badminton tournament, (from left): Sikky Reddy, Guru Sai Dutt, Ruth Misha and H. Prannoy.

BANGALORE: Guru Sai Dutt completed a hat-trick of wins when he lifted the boys’ under-19 singles title in the Union Bank all-India junior ranking badminton championship at the KBA courts here on Saturday.

It was Guru’s third successive under-19 singles title after his triumphs at the Krishna Khaitan championship at Chennai and in the all-India junior ranking event at Kochi. Guru showed his guile and grit in ample measure in the title clash against Abhimanyu Singh of Madhya Pradesh, winning 21-16, 18-21, 21-13 in about 35 minutes.

Splendid comeback

He performed a splendid comeback in the first after trailing 5-12. He took the game away from Abhimanyu by cleverly mixing his strokes. But in the second he was a trifle too cocky. Leading initially, Guru paid for his complacency. Abhimanyu lowered the pace of the game, played a lot more sensibly and forced Guru to commit a few errors. He went on to take the game at 21-18.

In the decider, which saw some keen rallies at the outset, Guru pulled away, punching his half smashes with greater accuracy. He had Abhimanyu on the run and wrapped up the game at 21-13 verdict for the title. Though Abhimanyu warded off the match point thrice, he couldn’t alter the script.

In the girls’ under-19 final, Ruth Misha pulled off an exciting 22-20, 22-20 win over the in-form Sikki Reddy of Andhra Pradesh.

Ruth and Sikki had defeated each other in the recent South Zone inter-state championship at Kakinada.

Earlier in the morning session, Sikki played some vintage stuff to dump Prajakta Sawant of Maharashtra in the girls’ under-16 singles final at 21-18, 21-17.

Prajakta ran her close in the first game, but Sikki had the measure of her at the end.

The boys’ under-16 singles final saw a keen tussle between the top seed, B. Sai Praneeth of AP and H. Prannoy of Kerala.

Prannoy won the humdinger showing a lot of staying power and sound judgement at 15-21, 21-19, 21-18.

Mr. L.N.V. Rao, GM of the Union Bank, which sponsored the event, presided and gave away the prizes.

The results (finals): Boys: Under-19: singles: Guru Sai Dutt (AP) bt Abhimanyu Singh (MP) 21-16, 18-21, 21-13; Doubles: Arun Nandaluri (AI) & Anil Kumar (AP) bt Guru Sai Dutt / K. Tarun (AP) 21-17, 16-21, 21-16.

Under-16: singles: H.S. Prannoy (Ker) bt B. Sai Praneeth (AP) 15-21, 21-19, 21-18; Doubles: Raj Kumar & Pranav Chopra (Pun) bt Sai Praneeth & Prannoy 21-19, 21-17.

Girls: Under-19: singles: Ruth Misha (Kar) bt Sikki Reddy (AP) 22-20, 22-20; Doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa & Nitya Sosale bt Vaishali Baria & Prajakta Sawant 21-17, 21-15.

Under-16: singles: Sikki Reddy bt Prajakta Sawant (Mah) 21-18, 21-17; Doubles: Sikki Reddy & Lavanya (AP) bt Prajakta & Vijeta 21-19, 22-20.

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