The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Chetan Anand, Saina Nehwal retain titles

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Monday, Jan 28, 2008
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Sport - Badminton

Chetan Anand, Saina Nehwal retain titles

S.R. Suryanarayan

— Photo: Arvind Tengse

Champions all: The winners of the National badminton championship (from left): V. Diju (mixed doubles), Rupesh Kumar, Sanave Thomas (both men’s doubles), Saina Nehwal (women’s singles), Chetan Anand (men’s singles), Jwala Gutta (mixed / women’s doubles) and Shruti Kurien (women’s doubles).

PANAJI: The two PSPB players B. Chetan Anand and Saina Nehwal retained their men’s and women’s singles titles respectively in the 72nd senior National badminton championship which concluded here on Sunday.

Both matches ended in straight games and produced only moments of excitement but more of missed opportunities for the losers. Aravind Bhat, also of PSPB and the loser to Chetan, should have had a better tale to tell if only he had translated his supremacy into gains by way of points. He was on game-point at 20-17 and suddenly conceded a series of negative points with wayward returns.

Chetan, who had bagged the first game in style and lagged in the second, even appeared on the verge of losing that, thus found the route to victory in the most unexpected way. Aravind in a way spurned an opportunity to extend the contest and what looked developing into a lively tussle ended abruptly in 35 minutes. More than anything this was one more chance gone for Aravind who had been a finalist thrice earlier.

“I made mistakes in the second game and thought the contest would go into the decider. My idea was to tire out Aravind and seize the advantage. It did not go that way,” said Chetan, clearly elated with his third success in the National and one he would cherish more for in recent times he had begun to look less dominant in the midst of domestic players.

Quick to adapt

Saina expected a fight against her PSPB colleague Trupti Murgunde, a player known for her wristy placements more than her flexibility. Expectedly Trupti troubled her with the sliced returns to the forecourt. Saina was quick to change pace and push her opponent back with deep tosses and drives. The ability to find the corners helped Saina where Trupti struggled to match the rival’s deceptive pace and also to find the opening to put her netplay into work. A handy lead in both games provided the insurance for Saina to work her way to a comfortable win, her second National title.

“I had prepared for this moment (winning the National title again) and I am happy I achieved it. Trupti is a tough player but I was able to find a way out and play to my strength,” said the champion schoolgirl from Hyderabad.

Later the established pair of Sanave Thomas (Kerala) and Rupesh Kumar (PSPB) retained their doubles title.

Goa Governor S.C. Jamir gave away the prizes.

The results: Final: Men’s singles: B. Chetan Anand (PSPB) bt Aravind Bhat (PSPB) 21-14, 22-20; Doubles: Final: Sanave Thomas (Ker) and Rupesh Kumar (PSPB) bt Akshay Dewalkar (AI) and V. Diju (PSPB) 21-17, 21-17. Women: Singles: Final: Saina Nehwal (PSPB) bt Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) 21-11, 21-10.