Kerala dominates

Daya Elsa Jacob, Aparna Balan, coach A. Nazar, P.C. Thulasi and Sneha Santhilal, members of the victorious Kerala women's badminton team. Photo: M. Moorthy

Kerala bagged the men's and women's titles in the 34th Jharkhand National Games here on Friday.

Kerala dethroned Andhra Pradesh in the women's final with a 2-1 win, while its men edged out Andhra Pradesh 3-2 in a nail-biting summit clash to retain the crown.The individual events begin on Saturday.

The results:

Badminton (finals): Men: Kerala bt AP 3-2 (H.S. Prannoy bt K. Nandagopal 21-11, 21-19; Joy T Antony lost to H. Sai Praneeth 19-21, 21-13, 21-5; Rupesh Kumar & Sanave Thomas bt Nandagopal & Sai 24-22, 21-14; Sanave lost to Guru Saidutt 21-6, 21-6; V. Diju & Arun Vishnu bt Guru Saidutt & K. Tarun 26-28, 21-19, 21-16).

Women: Kerala bt AP 2-1 (Daya Elsa Jacob lost to P.V. Sindhu 21-8, 21-8; Aparna Balan & P.C. Thulasi bt Jyotsna & Sikki Reddy 12-21, 21-13, 21-11; Thulasi bt Sikki 21-12, 21-5).

Basketball (preliminaries): Men: AP bt Jharkhand 91-86;

Women: Delhi bt Jharkhand 94-38.

Hockey (preliminaries): Men: Delhi bt Orissa 3-0; Services bt TN 2-1. Women: MP bt Maharashtra 6-0; Haryana bt Assam 17-0.