Chetan emerges champion

Former national champion Chetan of PSPB was stretched fully by fourth seed Anand Pawar of Air India in a see-saw battle before winning the men’s final 20-22, 21-12, 21-17 in just over an hour to pocket the top prize of Rs 75,000.

The women’s summit clash was tame and error-prone, in which second seed Sayali of Air India outsmarted fifth seed Neha Pandit of Maharashtra, conqueror of top seed Aditi Mutatkar of PSPB in the quarterfinal, 21-19, 21-15 in only 37 minutes.

After losing the first game, Chetan stormed back to clinch the second game in just 17 minutes by using the drop shot to devastating effect.

Chetan then had his nose in front right through the decider which he won by repeatedly beating his rival in the net-play and wrapped up the issue.

The men’s final started off promisingly with Pawar surging ahead from 14-all  and despite some hiccup won the game at 22-20.

Chetan, however, bounced back superbly in second game to easily clinch it 21-12.
The decider saw both the shuttlers fighting tooth and nail as Pawar rallied from 3-7 down to  close the gap to 16-18. But Chetan held his nerves

PTI

Results (all finals): Men’s singles: 1-Chetan Anand (PSPB) bt 4-Anand Pawar (AI) 20-22, 21-12, 21-17. Doubles: 1-Rupesh Kumar (PSPB)/ Sanave Thomas (Ker) bt 2-Arun Vishnu (Ker)/ K Tarun (AP) 16-21, 21-14, 21-10.

Women’s singles: 2-Sayali Gokhale (AI) bt 5-Neha Pandit (Mah) 21-19, 21-15. Doubles: 1-Aparna Balan (Ker)/ Shruti Kurien (PSPB) bt 3-Nitya Sosale (Kar)/ Pradnya Gadre (Mah) 21-18, 21-11. Mixed doubles: 1-V Diju (PSPB)/ M Ashwini Ponnappa (Kar) bt 2-Arun Vishnu (Ker)/ Aparna Balan (Ker) 21-14, 14-21, 21-19.