The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Kashyap, Aditi corner glory

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Thursday, Dec 13, 2007
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Kashyap, Aditi corner glory

Special Correspondent

The men’s final was absorbing in patches
Aditi played an attacking game

BANGALORE: It was a big day for both P. Kashyap of Andhra Pradesh and Aditi Mutatkar of Maharashtra, who emerged as worthy champions in the Canara Bank all-India senior badminton championship at the KBA courts here on Wednesday.

The triumph of these two talented juniors certainly augurs well for the game in the country. In a tightly contested men’s singles final between the two former National junior champions which lasted 45 minutes, the top seeded Kashyap, stopped a fighting Anand Pawar of Air-India, the second seed, at 16-21, 21-19, 21-15.

The ebullient Aditi Mutatkar, last year’s junior girls’ champion, rallied superbly to down the top seed and National No. 2, Trupti Murgunde 19-21, 21-10, 21-15 in about 35 minutes.

Kashyap also won a prize money of Rs.70,000 and Aditi took a cheque of Rs.50,000.

The clash between Kashyap and Anand Pawar, both 21, though lacking in pace, was however absorbing in patches.

Pawar had the edge with his full-flighted tosses and strong smashes. But Kashyap played a solid defence which ultimately frustrated his rival. He also came up with brilliant counters and controlled at the net.

After initial sparring, the two bitterly contested each point in the first game, which went on level terms till 16 all, before Pawar swung it his way with a couple of neat placements which had Kashyap groping in the dark. He stopped Kashyap at 16 and took the game.

In the second game, a few unforced errors in the end saw Pawar dropping a game narrowly after the two ran neck to neck all the way.

In the decider, Kashap maintained the edge and led 10-6 and the game decisively went his way with Pawar flicking into the net to trail 14-18 and later an abortive bid for a drop pushed Pawar to the brink at 14-20, though he salvaged a match point, Pawar could not stop Kashyap’s final charge and the AP lad unleashed a half smash to take the game and title.

Kashyap delighted

“I am delighted to win the title, it was indeed close,” said Kashyap.

The women’s singles too had it sparks and irrepressible Aditi provided a good dose of it with an attacking game. If seasoned Trupti had the edge with her reach, it was Aditi, who played thinking game, making a lot of smart moves as the tie progressed.

She dropped the first at 19-21after running her rival close, but outhit Trupti to take the second game at 21-10.

In the decider, Aditi slowed down the pace with her uncanny placements.

Trupti, who relishes pace, got bogged down and began making mistakes.

Couple of netted returns including a serve, virtually ended her hopes.

“I am happy to win a senior title here and it means a lot for me as I train here (PPBA). I am pleased with the way I played, especially in the decider where I chose to be patient. My aim is to now do well on the international circuit,” said 20-year old Aditi.

The results:

Men’s singles: P. Kashyap (AP) bt Anand Pawar (Mah) 16-21, 21-19, 21-15.

Doubles: Sanave Thomas-Rupesh Kumar (Ker) bt V. Diju (Ker)-Akshay Dewalkar 21-9, 22-24, 21-11.

Women’s singles: Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) bt Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) 19-21, 21-10, 21-15.

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