Abhinn, Meenakshi dominate

MUMBAI: It may sound strange, but it happens quite often. The final of a major event, contested by, generally, the best players in the fray, turns out to be a damp squib.
And that’s precisely what the title round in both, the men’s and women’s singles, of the NSCI all-India major badminton tournament turned out be. For, Petroleum Sports Control Board’s Abhinn Shyam Gupta and B.R. Meenakshi encountered the minimum of resistance from Anup Sridhar (Kar) and Shruti Kurien (PSCB) enroute to the top prize of Rs 50,000 and Rs. 35,000 respectively.
The men’s final, in particular, was expected to provide exciting stuff. Not so much because of Abhinn’s superb performance thus far but more because his opponent, Sridhar, had two major scalps under his belt on way to the title round. However, that never really happened. And that was only because Abhinn was his usual consistent self while Sridhar was unaccountably and hopelessly erratic. The bursts of brilliance were fewer and further between when compared to the numerous errors the lanky Karnataka player committed.
Results (all finals): Men’s singles: Abhinn Shyam Gupta (PSCB) bt Anup Sridhar (Kar) 15-7, 17-16. Women’s singles: B.R. Meenakshi (PSCB) bt Shruti Kurien (PSCB) 9-11, 11-6, 11-6. Women’s doubles: Jwala Gutta/Shruti Kurien (PSCB) bt Aparna Popat (PSCB)/Oli Deka (Assam) 15-8, 15-9.
Gajjar, Amritraj ousted
Mumbai: The Indian challenge in the men’s singles ended with the ouster of second seed Prakash Amritraj and unseeded Rohan Gajjar from the semifinals of the MSLTA-ITF Satellite tennis circuit here on Friday.
Prakash was ousted by English qualfier Daniel Kiernan 6-2 7-6 (7/4) in one hour and 50 minutes. Gajjar fought well in the first set but lost the second easily to unseeded Prima Simpatiaji of Indonesia. Simpatiaji won 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 in one hour and forty minutes.
Results (all semifinals): Singles: Prima Simpatiaji (Ina) bt Rohan Gajjar (Ind) 7-6 (7-4) 6-1, Daniel Kiernan (GBR) bt Prakash Amritraj (Ind) 6-2 7-6 (7-4). Doubles: Manoj Mahadevan/Rishi Sridhar (Ind) bt Saurabh Kohli/ Rohan Gajjar (Ind) 6-4 0-6 6-4, Daniel Kiernan (GBR)/Ajay Ramaswamy (Ind) bt Hendri-Susilo Pramono/Febi Widhiyanto (Ina) 6-4 6-3. PTI