Top seed Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal did justice to their billing as they won the men’s and women’s singles title in the Pramod Mahajan all India Senior ranking badminton tournament at Siri Fort Sports Complex here on Sunday.
Anup quelled a strong challenge from veteran J B S Vidyadhar 21-16, 21-14 in the men’s final, while Saina registered a facile 21-10, 21-14 triumph against Sayali Gokhale in front of a packed stadium.
Saina had a double delight as she partnered with Aparna Balan to beat Anita Ohlan and Dhanya Nair 21-10, 21-18 in the women’s doubles final.
Men’s doubles top-seed Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas fought back from a set down to prevail over Akshay Dewalkar and V Diju 16-21, 21-19, 21-14 to win the men’s doubles title.
The singles winner received Rs 1, 10,000 as prize while the doubles winner pocketed 60,000 each. The singles runners-up are richer by 50,000 while the doubles number two got 30,000 each.
Squads announced
Meanwhile, a 17-member Indian team for the qualifiers of Thomas and Uber Cup world team badminton championships, to be held in Vietnam next month, was announced here on Sunday.
World number 26 Anup Sridhar will lead the nine-member men’s team for the Thomas Cup qualifiers, beginning on February 19.
P Kashyap, Arvind Bhatt and Chetan Anand are the other men’s singles players, Badminton Association of India President V K Verma said.
The two doubles combinations will be Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas and V Diju and Akshaye Diwalkar.
J B S Vidhayadhar is the other member of the doubles team.
The women’s team for the Uber Cup qualifiers, also slated to start on February 19, will be led by Saina Nehwal while the other members are Aditi Mutatkar, Trupti Murgunde and Sayali Gokhale.
Country’s top women’s pair Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurien, ranked 24th in the world, will lead the doubles challenge along with Aparna Balan and Jyotsna.