Air India and Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) will figure in both the men's and women's finals of the IFCI inter-State badminton championship.
Pratul Joshi, the 16-year-old from Air India, was the toast of his team's success. Pratul gave Air India the perfect take-off winning against Hirak Jyoti Niyog and helped chart a 3-0 win over Assam in the semifinals. And it was Pratul, a trainee at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA), who paved the way for the Airmen's 3-2 win over Karnataka with a straight-game win against Rohan Castelino in the quarterfinals earlier in the day.
Also making it to the title clash of the Chadha Cup for women were the Air India girls with a 2-0 victory over Maharashtra, while PSPB downed Kerala too by an identical scoreline.
Maharashtra blanked
PSPB men, with Guru Sai Dutt and Sai Praneeth leading the way, blanked Maharashtra 3-0 in the other men's semifinal.
Karnataka ensured that the day's proceedings were not a mundane affair. Even Anup Sridhar's presence in the ranks could not turn the match in the home team's favour.
Aditya Prakash was off to a flying start against G. Gopi Raju, winning in straight sets. However, Anand Pawar, fresh from his international exploits, gave nothing away in his match against Anup Sridhar and won 21-17, 21-8.
With D. Guruprasad and Adarsh Kumar provided a lifeline for the host by winning the crucial doubles match against fancied Jishnu Sanyal and Manu Atri in three games, there was hope for the team.
However, Pratul made sure there was no goof-up from his end thrashing Rohan Castelino 21-13, 21-16 and taking the match into the decider. Anand Pawar and Akshay Devalkar then combined to put paid to Karnataka's hopes with a 22-20, 19-21, 21-18 win over Anup Sridhar and Aditya Prakash.
The results:
Men (Rahimatoola Cup):Semifinals: PSPB bt Maharashtra 3-0 (Guru Sai Dutt bt Eshan Naqvi 21-10, 21-7; B. Sai Praneeth bt Subhankar Dey 21-19, 21-12; V. Diju & Arun Vishnu bt Sameer Bhagwat & Varun Khanwalkar 21-3, 21-10); Air India bt Assam 3-0 (Pratul Joshi bt Hirak Jyoti Niyog 21-10, 21-11; G. Gopi Raju bt Anshuman Hazarika 21-17, 21-17; Akshay Devalkar & Jishnu Sanyal bt Dibyajyothi Borah & Hirak Jyoti Niyog 21-14, 21-12).
Quarterfinals: PSPB bt AAI 3-0 (Arvind Bhat bt Sameer Verma 21-19, 21-16; B. Sai Praneeth bt K. Nandagopal 21-17, 21-19; Rupesh Kumar & Arun Vishnu bt B. Sumeet Reddy & K. Nandagopal 21-17, 15-21, 21-18); Maharashta bt Delhi 3-1 (Sagar Chopda bt Himanshu Kharbanda 21-14, 17-21; Eshan Naqvi bt Manish Rawat 21-15, 18-21, 21-12; Nishad Dravid & Harshad Bhagwat lost to Davinder Dhillon & Hemanth Duggal 9-21,17-21; Subhankar Dey bt Ashish Sharma 21-10, 19-21, 21-8); Assam bt UP 3-1 (Hirak Jyoti Niyog bt Anurag Sharma 21-18, 21-14; Anshuman Hazarika lost to A. Naqvi 18-21, 19-21; Dibyajyothi Borah & Hirak Jyoti Niyog bt Ravinder Singh & D.B. Thapa 21-16, 21-17; Anjan Buragohain bt R.M. Ansari 21-10, 21-6); Air India bt Karnataka 3-2 (G. Gopi Raju lost to Aditya Prakash 9-21, 16-21; Anand Pawar bt Anup Sridhar 21-17, 21-8; Jishnu Sanyal & Manu Atri lost to D. Guru Prasad & Adarsh Kumar 19-21, 21-16, 15-21; Praful Joshi bt Rohan Castelino 21-13, 21-16; Akshay Devalkar & Anand Pawar bt Aditya Prakash & Anup Sridhar 22-20, 19-21, 21-18).
Women (Chadha Cup): Semifinals: PSPB bt Kerala 2-0 (P.V. Sindhu bt P.C. Thulasi 21-16, 21-12; Aparna Balan & Prajakta Sawant bt Daya Elsa Jacob & P.C. Thulasi 21-18, 21-11); Air India bt Maharashtra 2-0 (Tanvi Lad bt Anuradha Shrikhande 21-10, 21-14; Pradnya Gadre & Saili Rane bt Manasi Gadgil & Riya Pillai 21-11, 21-12).
Quarterfinals: Kerala bt West Bengal 2-0 (P.C. Thulasi bt Sanchali Dasgupta 21-8, 21-7; Daya Elsa Jacob & P.C. Thulasi bt Rupsa Ghosh & Barnali Raha 21-14, 21-4); PSPB bt Delhi 2-0 (Aditi Mutatkar bt Ananya Nagar 21-12, 21-5; Aparna Balan & Prajakta Sawant bt Sanskriti Chabra & Ananya Nagar 21-16, 21-5); Maharashtra bt Assam 2-0 (Jui Agaskar bt Mrudusmita Phukan 21-13, 21-16; Manasi Gadgil & Riya Pillai bt Kristi Das & Mrudusmita Phukan 21-14, 21-11); Air India bt AAI 2-0 (Sayali Gokhale bt Neha Pandit 19-21, 24-22, 21-16; Pradnya Gadre & Sayali Gokhale bt Sikki Reddy & Mohita Sahdev 21-13, 21-14).
