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Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008
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Sport - Badminton

PSPB to meet Air-India

S.R. Suryanarayan

PANAJI: There was no stopping the PSPB teams as they moved into the title round of the senior National badminton championship at the SAG indoor facility here on Monday.

Considering that both the men’s and women’s squads were virtually the Indian teams, the interest was only on how much each side would be tested.

The men suffered a hiccup when Arvind Bhat was shocked by the promising Ajay Jayaram in the first singles event.

National champion Chetan Anand soon restored parity for PSPB, disposing of Sagar Chopda, before Rupesh Kumar and V. Diju seized the lead with a win in the doubles.

It was left to P. Kashyap to finish things off.

Jishnu Sanyal piloted Air-India to the final with a stupendous show, playing doubles and returning for the third singles twice in the day, including the semifinal.

In the women’s semifinal, PSPB was hardly troubled by Keralawhich had received a walkover in the morning after LIC failed to turn up. It will meet Railways for the Chadha Cup.

The results:

Men: Semifinals: PSPB bt Maharashtra 3-2 (Aravind Bhat lost to Ajay Jayaram 14-21, 19-21; Chetan Anand bt Sagar Chopda 21-15, 21-15; Rupesh Kumar & V. Diju bt Rohit Sadani & Aditya Pandya 21-8, 21-12; P. Kashyap bt Amey Joshi 21-12, 22-20; PSPB concd. final doubles).

Air-India bt Karnataka 3-2 (Utsav Mishra bt S.D.S. Krishna 21-12, 21-14; Anand Pawar bt Ajith Wijetilak 21-11, 21-15; Jishnu Sanyal & Akshay Dewalkar lost to S.D.S. Krishna & Arun Vishnu 21-14, 20-22, 12-21; Jishnu Sanyal bt V. Amar 21-10, 21-14; Air India conceded the doubles match).

Quarterfinals: PSPB bt BSNL 3-2; Maharashtra bt Assam 3-2; Air-India bt Uttar Pradesh 3-2; Karnataka bt Punjab 3-2.

Women: Semifinals: PSPB bt Kerala 2-1 (Trupti Murgunde bt P.C. Thulasi 21-10, 21-10; Jwala Gutta & Shruti Kurien bt P.C. Thulasi & Merit George 21-3, 21-8; PSPB conceded next singles).

Railways bt Assam 2-1 (Dhanya Nair bt Bibari Basumatari 21-6, 9-21, 25-23; Dhanya Nair & Anita Ohlan bt Abantika Deka & Rimi Hazarika 21-15, 21-16; Rly conceded the next singles).

Quarterfinals: PSPB bt West Bengal 2-1; Assam bt Gujarat 2-1; Railways bt Delhi 2-1; Kerala w/o LIC.

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