Second seed Anup Sridhar of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board overcame qualifier Saurabh Verma of Madhya Pradesh 21-19, 20-22, 21-15 to win the All India senior major ranking badminton tournament here on Tuesday.
In the women's singles, favourite and top seed Trupti Murgunde of Petroelum Sports Promotion Board eased to a 21-12, 21-18 win over Arundhati Pantawane of Maharashtra.
Verma raced to an 8-1 lead in the opening game, with Anup looking completely out of sorts, before the latter came up with a few thundering smashes from the backcourt to soon draw level at 10. Anup led 18-15, let the lead slip again at 19 before hanging on to win 21-19.
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If the opening game was marked by an inability on the part of either player to stay ahead for long, the second wasn't too different.
Poor call
With two match points at 20-18, Anup made a poor call, on one of Verma's shots, to leave the shuttle — something he later attributed to his lack of match sharpness — that eventually landed well inside. Two more errors later, he found himself down 20-21 after which Verma closed the game out.
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Verma's exertions seemed to have taken a toll and he struggled for a foothold in the final game. Although Anup appeared to suffer from nerves and saw his 11 match points reduced to five, he was not to be denied.
The results:
Men: Singles: Final: Anup Sridhar (Pet) bt Saurabh Verma (M.P.) 21-19, 20-22, 21-15. Doubles: Final: Pranav Chopra (AI) & K. Tarun (AP) bt Akshay Dewalkar (AI) & Arun Vishnu (Ker) 21-18, 12-21, 21-19.
Women: Singles: Final: Trupti Murgunde (Pet) bt Arundhati Pantawane 21-12, 21-18. Doubles: Final: Aparna Balan (Pet) & Prajakta Sawant (Mah) bt Jwala Gutta (Pet) & Ashwini Ponnappa (Kar) 21-19, 21-11.
Mixed Doubles: Final: Arun Vishnu (Ker) & Aparna Balan (Pet) bt Pranav Chopra (AI) & Prajakta Sawant (Mah) 21-19, 18-21, 21-19.