The Hindu : Sport : Ponsana Boonsak outplays Chetan Anand to clinch the title

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Ponsana Boonsak outplays Chetan Anand to clinch the title

V.V. Subrahmanyam

Mi Zhou proves too good for Lu Lan

Chetan Anand lacked consistency
Ponsana was vastly superior at the net

— Photo G. Krishnaswamy

Winning smile: Thailand’s Ponsana Boonsak made his visit to Hyderabad a memorable one.

HYDERBAD: Thailand’s Ponsana Boonsak produced a dream game to outplay Chetan Anand 21-16, 21-12 in 33 minutes in the men’s singles final of the India Open Grand Prix badminton championship at the Gachibowli Stadium here on Sunday.

It was a huge disappointment for the boisterous crowd which constantly kept cheering the National champion. Chetan badly lacked the consistency and class which saw him enter the final.

Neither his movements nor his game were equal to the task. And to his chagrin, Ponsana played a very good game at the net. Almost every time Chetan rushed to the net to engage the opponent in net dribbles, the fifth-seeded Thai got the better of his opponent.

The beauty of his game was that with a vastly superior net game, Ponsana set himself perfectly for the powerful, forehand smashes which invariably brooked no return.

Gaining momentum

Once gaining the momentum after wrapping the first game at 21-16, the Thai switched gear in the second one with some more delectable drops. The World No. 12 produced stunning backhand returns which further confused the Indian.

Clearly, it was not Chetan’s evening as the fifth-seeded Thai sustained his brilliance in the second game. The finish was spectacular. A forehand smash — a classic point after a net-dribble and then fooling the Indian into an unforced error, after another duel at the net, — sent the crowd into stunned silence.

“I was not moving well. Not able to get the length of my strokes right. Definitely, I must confess that I was nervous and conscious of the fact that I was playing my maiden Grand Prix final,” confessed Chetan.

He acknowledged that the Thai played exceptionally well. “He was able to handle my half-smashes admirably. He played a splendid game.”

Zhou dominates

Mi Zhou, the 2003 All England champion, shocked second-seeded Lu Lan of China with a 21-14, 21-14 win in 34 minutes to clinch the women’s singles title.

Zhou dominated the contest with a near flawless game, picking the gaps in the forecourt with impeccable drops. As the game progressed, Zhou came up with some pleasing deception to get the better of her 20-year-old opponent.

In the second game, though Lan played some excellent smashes and drops, they came a bit too late to change the script.

The results:

Men: Singles: Ponsana Boonsak (Tha) bt Chetan Anand (Ind) 21-16, 21-12;

Doubles: Zhendong Guo & Zhongbo Xie (Chn) bt Eng Chew Choon & Ming Chan Chong (Mas 19-21, 21-14, 21-12.

Women: Singles: Mi Zhou (Hkg) bt Lu Lan (Chn) 21-14, 21-14;

Doubles: Chin Chien Yu & Hsing Cheng Wen (Tpe) bt Maeda Miyuki & Suetsuna Satoko (Jpn) 21-17, 21-16.

Mixed doubles: Hanbin He & Yang Fu (Chn) bt Kristof Hopp & Birgit Overzier (Ger) 21-18, 21-9.

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