The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Guru Sai Dutt and Ruth Misha triumph

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Friday, Dec 28, 2007
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Sport - Badminton

Guru Sai Dutt and Ruth Misha triumph

Sports Reporter

Guru exhibited fine all-round court craft
Kerala’s Bennet Antony and Suraj won the boys’ doubles title

NELLORE: Andhra Pradesh’s Guru Sai Dutt and Karnataka’s Ruth Misha emerged junior National champions defeating Madhya Pradesh’s Abhimanyu Singh (12-21, 21-13, 21-17) and AP’s Sikki Reddy (21-23, 21-17, 21-12) respectively on the concluding day of the 32nd junior National badminton championship here on Thursday.

Abhimanyu won the first game (21-12) unsettling Guru with his precision-like cross court drop shots. He also excelled close at the net especially with his delicate dribbles. Guru was all at sea and allowed his rival to dictate terms.

However, the next two games saw a resurgent Guru, who exhibited fine all-round court craft.

His down-the-line smashes landed perfectly and the wristy drop shots took his opponent by surprise. This is 18-year-old Guru’s first junior National title.

The women’s final, which lasted 54 minutes, saw Ruth Misha fighting two opponents — Sikki Reddy and her poor digestive system.

Ruth went down fighting to Sikki in a closely fought first game (21-23) and kept vomiting in her second game.

Undeterred by her poor health, Ruth unleashed breathtaking cross court shots to end the decisive rallies.

Her deft drops and placements caused a dent in Sikki’s confidence.

Sikki played erratically, sending her service returns long, while her court movements lacked the usual alacrity.

Kerala’s Bennet Antony and Suraj won the boys’ doubles defeating Air India’s N. Arun and AP’s Anil Raju 21-17, 21-18.

The women’s doubles honours went to Aswini Ponnappa and Nitya Sosale of Karnataka, who defeated P.C. Tulasi (Kerala) and Sikki Reddy (AP) 16-21, 27-25, 21-17.

Kerala’s Ram C. Vijay and Maharashtra’s Swetha lifted the mixed doubles title defeating Parsa Naqui and Appa Rao of Railways 22-20, 25-23.

The results (all finals):

Singles: Boys: Guru Sai Dutt (AP) bt Abhimanyu Singh (MP) 12-21, 21-13, 21-17. Girls: V. Ruth Misha (Kar) bt N. Sikki Reddy (AP) 21-23, 21-17, 21-12.