IOCL, ONGC emerge champions
Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) clinched the men’s and women’s team event titles respectively in the PSPB inter-unit badminton tournament at the KBA courts here on Thursday.
In the men’s final, IOCL outclassed Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) 3-0. R M V Guru Sai Dutt scored a comfortable 21-16, 21-8 win over Aditya Prakash to give IOCL 1-0 lead before Ajay Jayaram powered past Anup Sridhar 21-13, 21-15 to make it 2-0. The doubles pair of Arun Vishnu and Tarun Kona then combined to beat Aditya and Anup 21-16, 21-13 to lift the title.
ONGC women shuttlers too had a easy outing, routing IOCL 2-0 in the summit clash. P C Thulasi overcame Tanvi Lad 21-15, 21-18 before Thulasi joined hands with Ashwini Ponnappa to edge out Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant 7-21, 22-20, 21-12 to emerge champions.
Results (team event): Men: Final: IOCL bt BPCL 3-0 (R M V Guru Sai Dutt bt Aditya Prakash 21-16, 21-8; Ajay Jayaram bt Anup Sridhar 21-13, 21-15; Arun Vishnu/ Tarun Kona bt Aditya Prakash/ Anup Sridhar 21-16, 21-13).
Third-place match: ONGC bt HPCL 3-0 (Sai Praneeth B bt Subhankar Dey 21-9, 21-16; Sourabh Verma bt Eshan Naqvi 21-11, 21-19; Chetan Anand/ Pranav Chopra bt Eshan Naqvi/ Subhankar Dey 22-20, 13-9 (retired). Semifinals: BPCL bt ONGC 3-1; IOCL bt HPCL.
Women: Final: ONGC bt IOCL 2-0 (Thulasi P C bt Tanvi Lad 21-15, 21-18: Ashwini Ponnappa/ Thulasi P C bt Aparna Balan/ Prajakta Sawant 7-21, 22-20, 21-12). Third-place match: GAIL bt EIL 2-1 (Dalima Singh lt to Vinita 21-19, 18-21, 17-21; Dalima Singh/ Iti Bansal bt Vinita/ Kirti 23-21, 21-16; Rashmi Das bt Madhu 21-12, 21-3).
Veteran (men): Final: BPCL bt ONGC 2-0 (George Thomas bt Swaraj Dev 21-7, 21-13; Bhushan Akut bt Sheel Sood 21-11, 21-9).
