Sport
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Badminton
Air-India flies high
By Our Special Correspondent
BHOPAL, DEC. 11. Air- India did just what was expected from it. With some of the hand- picked teenagers under its wings, Air-India easily landed a `double' in the team events of the National junior badminton championship at the BHEL badminton hall here on Tuesday.
Watched by Prakash Padukone, Anup Sridhar continued his irrepressible form of the season as he guided Air-India to a 2-0 victory over second seed Maharashtra. This was a repeat of the previous final at Chandigarh last year.
In the girls section, Air-India produced an identical verdict over Bengal. This result was on expected lines following Air-India's conquest of Maharashtra in Monday's semifinals.
For the record, Air-India completed a hat-trick of titles in the boys section. The Air-India girls, champion in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1997, thus regained the title after a gap of three years. However, it must be remembered that Air-India benefited immensely from the absence of the girls from Andhra Pradesh, winner for the last two years.
On this day, much was expected from the match between Sridhar and Nishad Dravid. However, the 50-minute encounter did not provide the expected fare as Dravid failed to raise his level of play.
Sridhar, on a roll this season following his success in the junior section of the French Open and triumphs in two domestic junior tournaments, came out stronger in the close first game and thereafter never really looked out of control.
During the brief period when Dravid looking like making a fight of it, Sridhar dropped the third game and again trailed 4-5 in the fourth. But Sridhar, nearly 17 months older to Dravid, proved stronger near the finish and went on to maintain his unbeaten record over four matches against the reigning junior champion.
Sridhar again made the decisive difference in the doubles that followed. Again Maharashtra failed to play to its potential and let Air-India close the tie in a hurry. Sridhar and P. Sunil needed just 24 minutes to shut out Amar Mohite and Akshay Thakkar.
If Air-India's triumph in the boys section came far more easily than anticipated, its success in the girls section was a foregone conclusion.
Shalini Prakash blanked Amrita Mukherjee in the first game where the Bengal girl failed to get going even after four serving opportunities. In the second game, Shalini was made to pay for her over confidence as she tried too many things, perhaps, too soon. Amrita, down 2-5, enjoyed her best phase in the match as she raced away with the next five points to soon managed to level the match.
It was not until 0-3 in the third game that Shalini found a way to check her erroneous streak. She won the next five points and got back the confidence that had, temporarily, deserted her. After closing the third game without much ado, Shalini did not allow Amrita much liberties in the remainder of this 37-minute match.
The doubles contest took the expected course with Fatima Nazneen and B.N. Ashwini proving more than a handful for Amrita and Pallavi Sengupta.
The results (final):
Boys: Air-India bt Maharashtra 2-0 (Anup Sridhar bt Nishad Dravid 8-7, 7-4, 3-7, 7-5; Sridhar and P. Sunil bt Amar Mohite and Akshay Thakkar 7-3, 7-4, 7-5).
Girls: Air-India bt Bengal 2-0 (Shalini Prakash bt Amrita Mukherjee 7-0, 5-7, 7-3, 7-3; Fatima Nazneen and B.N. Ashwini bt Amrita and Pallavi Sengupta 7-0, 7-3, 7-5).
The Air-India teams that won both the boys and girls titles in the National junior badminton championship in Bhopal on Tuesday. Front row (from left): Fatima Nazneen, Shalini Prakash, B.N. Ashwini and Pooja Patil. Back row (second from left): Anup Sridhar, Ajit Pathak, P. Sunil and Sandeep Luis.
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