ONGC’s H.S. Prannoy capped a fine run and lifted the men’s singles title while BPCL’s P.V. Sindhu won the women’s crown in the Manorama Indian Open National-ranking badminton tournament here on Sunday evening.
After Saturday’s semifinal storm, the singles finals turned out to be a quiet affair at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium. The men’s final, which pitted the fifth-seeded Prannoy against former national champion Anup Sridhar, began promisingly with the latter leading 11-8 in the opening set but ended in a whimper with the former winning 21-13, 21-2.
The tall Anup used his height advantage well and came up with a smart strategy in the opening set. With a nice flick of his wrist, he confused Prannoy, forcing his younger opponent to run from side to side.
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But once Prannoy levelled at 11 and took a 14-12 lead with a telling crosscourt smash and then followed it up with a net shot, Anup looked uncomfortable. And he was a mere spectator in the second set.
“Anup was unwell last night and he only wanted to play the first set today,” revealed Prannoy, who trains at the Gopi Chand Academy in Hyderabad, after winning his first senior national-ranking title in almost three years and taking home the winner’s purse of Rs. 1.17 lakh.
Meanwhile World No. 10 Sindhu began the tournament with one racket and ended with another — after signing a rich two-year contract with Li-Ning which came into effect on Saturday — but she looked comfortable despite the change in equipment and defeated P.C. Thulasi 21-11, 21-11.
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The tall Sindhu, ranked 67 rungs above her opponent in the world list, frequently kept the shuttle out of Thulasi’s reach with her sharp crosscourt smashes. Thulasi fought hard but it was not good enough.
In sharp contrast, all the three doubles finals turned out be thrilling affairs and the packed stadium lapped it up with glee.
The results (finals):Men: H.S. Prannoy (PSPB) bt Anup Sridhar (Ktk) 21-13, 21-2. Doubles: Pranaav Jerry Chopra (PSPB) & Akshay Dewalkar (AI) bt Alwin Francis (Ker) & Arun Vishnu (PSPB) 21-9, 23-25, 21-19.
Women: P.V. Sindhu (PSPB) bt P.C. Thulasi (Ker) 21-11, 21-11. Doubles: Aparna Balan (PSPB) & N. Sikki Reddy (AAI) bt Prajakta Sawant (PSPB)/Arathi Sara Sunil (Ker) 21-16, 21-13.
Mixed doubles: Arun Vishnu & Aparna Balan (PSPB) bt Sanave Thomas (Ker) & Prajakta Sawant (PSPB) 21-18, 21-18.