The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Sruthi saves Kerala the blushes, ensures women's team title

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Sunday, Oct 01, 2006
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Sport - Badminton

Sruthi saves Kerala the blushes, ensures women's team title

KOZHIKODE: Local lass M. Sruthi saved Kerala the blushes with a gritty performance in the South Zone inter-State badminton championship at the V.K. Krishna Menon indoor stadium here on Saturday. Her unexepected 23-21, 15-21, 21-17 win over Ashwini Ponnappa of Karnataka helped the host retain the women's title.

But for her splendid show under pressure against a much stronger rival, Kerala, which came into this tournament as the reigning champion in three out of the four events, would have finished its campaign empty-handed. Kerala won 2-1.

Karnataka won the men's title, toppling favourite Andhra 3-2. Andhra, however, won the junior boys' title, beating Kerala 2-0, while Karnataka took the junior girls' crown, also defeating Kerala 2-0.

The results (finals):

Men: Karnataka bt Andhra 3-2 (V. Amar lost to P. Kashyap 13-21, 21-17, 15-21; Mohith Kamath lost to J.B.S. Vidyadhar 18-21, 15-21; Ajit Wijetilak & Jose George bt P. Kashyap & Vinayak 21-18, 22-10; Rohan Castelino bt Shashidhar 24-22, 21-18; Vineeth Manuel & Guruprasad bt J.B.S. Vidyadhar & Tanishak 22-20, 14-21, 24-22).

Women: Kerala bt Karnataka 2-1 (Aparna Balan bt Ruth Misha 21-18, 22-20; Aparna Balan & Merit George lost to AshwiniPonnappa & Sowmya Padhye 17-21, 15-21; M. Sruthi bt Ashwini Ponnappa 23-21, 15-21, 21-17).

Junior boys: Andhra bt Kerala 2-0 (R.M.V. Gurusaidutt bt Vishnu Prasad 21-12, 21-12; R.M.V. Gurusaidutt & Tarun Reddy bt Shanker P. Gopan & Ram C. Vijay 17-21, 24-22, 21-16).

Junior girls: Karnataka bt Kerala 2-0 (Ruth Misha bt P.C. Thulasi 21-16, 21-19; Ashwini Ponnappa & Nitya Sosale bt P.C. Thulasi & M. Sruthi 21-17, 21-18).

Quarterfinalists spotted

At Kottayam, St. Ehremes HSS (Mannanam), St. Mary's HSS (Champakulam), St. Joseph's HSS (Thriuvananthapuram), Girideepam HSS (Kottayam), G.V. Raja Sports School (Thiruvananthapuram), MRHSS (Kurianoor), St. Joseph's HSS (Pulinkunnu) and MTHSS (Chungathara) entered the basketball quarterfinals in the boys' section in the 3rd Lourdean all-Kerala inter-school tournament at the Lourdean floodlit court here on Saturday.

In the girls section, SN Trust HSS (Kollam), G.V. Raja Sports School (Thiruvananthapuram), GVHSS (Kanur), St. Terases (Vazhapally), Mt. Carmel GHS (Kottayam), St. Mary's HSS (Pala), Kristhu Jyothi (Changanassery) entered the quaterfinals.

The results: Pool `A': St. Mary's HS, Champakulam 45 (Sebastian 10) bt St.Thomas HSS, Pala 31 (Cristin Prince 9).

Pool `B': St. Joseph's, Thiruvananthapuram 61 (Jijo Thankchan 31, Sanil 11) bt Don Bosco, Irinjalkuda 47 (Avin P. Jose 14).

Pool `C': MTHSS, Kurianoor 49 (Richard Baby 23) bt KEHSS, Mannanam 43 (Nikhil Kurian 15); G.V.Raja, Thiruvananthapuram 36 (Amal James 14) bt MTHSS, Kurianoor 11.

Pool `D': MTHSS, Chungathathara 23 bt Loude Public School, Kottayam St. Joseph's HSS, Pulikunnu 54 (Kevin Varghese 10, Sanju A.Joy 10) bt MTHSS, Chungathara 30 (Firoz 11)

Girls: Pool `C': Kristhu Jyothi HSS, Changanassery 14 bt Lourde Public School

Kristhu Jyothi HSS, Changanassery 11 bt Carmel GHS, Thiruvananthapuram 6.

Pool `D': Mount Carmel HSS, Kottayam 28 (Shija Joseph 12) bt St.Joseph's Anglo Indian GHSS, Kozhikode; St. Mary's HSS, Pala 31 (Neenu 10) bt St.Joseph Anglo GHSS, Kozhikode 16 (Meghana 12).

Easy for Mar Ivanios

At Kochi, St. Berchmans (Changanassery) and Mar Ivanios (Thiruvananthapuram) posted comfortable wins and entered the men`s basketball semifinals of the 61st Fr Bartholomew memorial inter-collegiate tournaments at the Sacred Heart College courts, Thevara, on Saturday.

The results (quarterfinals): Men's basketball: St. Berchmans, Changanassery bt Marian, Kuttikanam 58-34; Mar Ivanios, Thiruvananthapuram bt Cochin University 41-9; Sree Kerala Varma, Thrissur bt Engineering College, Thiruvananthapuram 46-20.

Men's volleyball: St Thomas, Pala bt St Peter's, Kolencherry 25-16, 25-18, 25-15; SN, Chelanur bt Nirmala, Muvattupuzha 25-18, 25-17, 25-18; Mar Athanasius, Kothamangalam bt Payyannur College 24-26, 25-20, 27-25, 25-23.

Women's volleyball: Alphonsa, Pala bt St Teresa's, Ernakulam 25-14, 25-21, 25-8; SN, Chelanur bt St Xavier's, Aluva 25-21, 25-16, 25-20.

Ramesh, Joseph advance

Thiruvananthapuram's top-seeded M.R. Ramesh and Ernakulam's second seed V.K. Joseph entered the above-45 semifinals of the Kerala State veterans' tennis tournament at the Regional Sports Centre courts, Kadavanthra, on Saturday.

In the above-45 age group, Thrissur's M. Antony defeated P.G. Mathew and entered the final.

The results (best of 13 games): Above-45 quarterfinals: M.R. Ramesh (Tvm) bt Babu Philip (Tsr) 3-0 conceded; V.K. Joseph (Ekm) bt Joy Anto (Tsr) 3-2 conceded; V.V. George (Ekm) bt S. Rajiv (Tvm) 7-5.

Pre-quarterfinals: Joseph Francis (Ekm) bt P.V. Timothy (Ekm) 7-5; V.V. George bt P.V. Thampi (Tsr) 7-5; Joy Anto bt K. George (Idk) 7-2.

Above-55 semifinals (best of 15 games): M. Antony (Tsr) bt P.G. Mathew (Klm) 8-3. Quarterfinals (best of 13): Andrews (Tvm) bt K.N. Mathew (Ekm) 7-3; P.G. Mathew bt Philip Mathew (Ekm) 7-5.

WASP inauguration

At Thrissur, a seminar on `a sports policy for Kerala' will mark the inauguration of the Welfare Association of Sportspersons (WASP) at Loveshore Inn here on Sunday.

The new association, WASP, formed by sportspersons for sportspersons, will be inaugurated by Olympian O. Chandrasekharan in the morning, at a function presided over by Kerala Sports Council president T.P. Dasan. It aims to bring together sportspersons to work for the betterment of sport by conducting regular coaching camps.

The seminar, which will be held in the afternoon, will include P.T. Usha, K.M. Beenamol, Mercy Kuttan, Shiny Wilson, Wilson Cherian, M.D. Valsamma, I.M. Vijayan, George Thomas and T.C. Yohanan.

Office-bearers: M.C. Radhakrishnan (Patron), Alphonse Kurian George (president), M.D. Unnikrishnan, N.R. Anilkumar, P.S. Mani (vice-presidents), C.A. Satheesh Babu (secretary), K.J. Prince, V.T. Anildas (joint secretaries), M.G. Ramesh Babu (treasurer).

Executive committee: T.K. Chathunni, C.P. Antony, C.V. Pappachan, Lijo David Thottan, Blessy Job, V.V. Paul, R.K. Ravindranath, Francis Attokkaran, E.J. George.

Kerala team

At Thiruvananthapuram, the Kerala under-19 cricket team for the Vinoo Mankad Trophy to be held in Vishakapatnam from October 5 to 11 was announced. Sunil Thomas was named as the captain and M.E. Sanuth as his deputy.

Kerala opens its campaign against Karnataka on October 5. Kerala's other matches are as follows: against Andhra (October 6), against Goa (October 8), against Hyderabad (October 9) and against Tamil Nadu (October 11).

The team: Sunil Thomas (Capt), M.E. Sanuth (vice-capt), Reji Lal, Akhil Viswanth, Sachin Mohan, Sachin Baby, Deepak Murali, Santu Jose, Pious K. Joseph, Jessin Oscar, Manu Krishnan, Ali Asgar, C.P. Rizwan, Praveen Achuthan and U. Anthaf. Coach: G. Jayakumar. Manager: B. Vinod.