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Veterans look good
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State badminton players are doing well at the national level
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K.P. Vasanth Kumar and Arun Poovaiah bagged the National Doubles Title in the Veterans National Championship at Kota.
IT CERTAINLY seems to be a season of success for Karnataka badminton players. Close on the heels on Anup Sridhar's triumph in the Senior Nationals, veteran badminton players K.P. Vasanth Kumar and Arun Poovaiah bagged the National Doubles Title in the Veterans National Championship at Kota recently.
Vasanth Kumar also made the semi-finals of the men's singles before losing to the eventual champion, Shyam Pardesi of Gujarat. It was Vasanth's first veteran's national meet and he was elated by his success.
"I have been teaming up with Arun Pooviah for several years now. We had earlier won State-level events before moving on to veterans' stage. We did pretty well at Kota beating at least three seeded pairs before winning the title," says Vasanth Kumar, who works with the Syndicate Bank here. He was, however, a bit disappointed with the one loss in the singles, but blamed it on heavy schedule. "Between singles and doubles, there was not much time for recovery and that told on me. Pardesi is a good player and he was the champion for the last three years. He solely concentrated on singles," says Vasanth Kumar.
Making his debut on the state scene in 1976, Vasanth Kumar dominated the State arena in 1980s when he was the men's champion for a decade and spearheaded the State challenge in the South Zone Inter-State and National championships. His best individual performance in the men's singles in the Nationals was when he made the quarterfinals of the 1982-83 championship in which he lost to the late Syed Modi.
Past his prime in the 1990s, Vasanth Kumar kept participating in the State level tournaments and along with Arun Pooviah provided a formidable challenge to younger rivals in the doubles. He later became a qualified referee and has been officiating in the State and National events.
Vasanth Kumar feels despite the State having top players like Anup Sridhar, Arvind Bhat and B.R. Meenkashi, standards in general are low. "Take away these stars, what other options do you have? There is actually dearth of talent and the game doesn't attract youngsters and many quit after 16 to join professional courses," says Vasanth Kumar. He wants the State Association to make local tournaments a far more attractive proposition for the players. "There should be minimum prize money to attract players. The State circuit has to be streamlined and we should have a good coaching programme in place."
KALYAN ASHOK
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