The Hindu : Sport : MGU, Calicut triumph

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Sport

MGU, Calicut triumph

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

CHAMPION: The Mahatma Gandhi University men’s team which won the all-India inter-university championship.

KOLENCHERRY: Mahatma Gandhi University celebrated its maiden triumph in the all-India inter-university badminton championship at its home zone here on Saturday.

The host men, all from Kochi’s Sacred Heart College who train at the Regional Sports Centre, jolted varsities National champion Bangalore, packed with players from the Prakash Padukone Academy and SAI, 3-2 for the second time in five days in a tense thriller. There was double joy for the State as Calicut blanked last year’s runner-up Mumbai 2-0 and regained the women’s title after a two-year break.

Team effort

“The way things went, I didn’t think we’d win the title,” said the home team captain Sankar P. Gopan. “MGU has never won the title before and we felt the years of pressure on us. The victory was a big team effort.”

Team effort it was, with the two doubles pairs — Sankar and K.S. Hersen and the younger P.H. Suraj and Alvin Francis — playing a big role. “We just need to win one of the three singles for the victory,” said Sankar before the final. That job, and it was a slog, was done by Alvin Francis who first forced Bangalore’s B.S. Phalgun to repeatedly backpedal with his high tosses and unsettled him with steep smashes before choking and chucking four match points in the second game.

He recovered nicely midway through the next game for the fine victory.

The results: Men: Mahatma Gandhi, Kottayam bt Bangalore 3-2 (Alvin Francis bt B.S.Phalgun 21-14, 21-23, 21-16; P.H. Suraj lost to Mohit Kamat 10-21, 9-21; Sankar P. Gopan/ K.S. Hersen bt Romit Dodeja/ Venkatesh Prasad 21-17, 21-9; Sankar Gopan lost to Shashank Achar 21-18, 14-21, 19-21; Alvin/ Suraj bt Mohit Kamat/ Shashank 21-19, 21-12). Women: Calicut bt Mumbai 2-0 (Aparna Balan bt Rucha Mhatre 21-3, 21-5; Aparna/ Annie Cherian bt Jui Agaskar/ Ankita Malgaonkar 21-17, 21-11).

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