JOIN USDouble joy for Praneeth
Second seed Praneeth outwitted top-seeded Sourabh Verma of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board 21-13, 10-21, 21-16 in an exciting men’s final contest that lasted 54 minutes. Third-seeded Sayali, who ousted top seed Neha Pandit in Sunday’s semifinals, eased past Air India team-mate unseeded Tanvi Lad 21-16, 21-17 to grab the women’s title.
Praneeth then teamed up with Nanda Gopal K to complete a grand double by beating Pranav Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar 22-20, 14-21, 21-15 in the men’s doubles final.
Praneeth, who had suffered defeats in title rounds at the hands of Sourabh last month in Mumbai and at the start of the year in Atul in National-ranking tournaments, was third time lucky. “This is the first time I am beating Sourabh in the finals,” said an elated Praneeth. “In Mumbai, I was serving for the match but then I lost. It has happened to me on several occasions. So now I am happy that I won a close contest.”
After taking the first game 21-13 by mixing caution with aggression, the teenager continued with the same rhythm in the second game until 10-11. But Sourabh put up a steady fight after that as he came up with a couple of smashes down the line and a backhand half-smash to move ahead by four points at 15-11.
Praneeth made things easy for his rival, committing unforced errors during that period, and after that, the 19-year-old gave up the fight as Sourabh levelled games at 1-1.
The Gopichand Academy trainees then dished out a thrilling third game as they were locked 10-all but Praneeth gradually took control with pin-point drops and powerful smashes to go 15-12 in front. Praneeth further stretched the lead before a reflex smash off Sourabh’s serve gave him four match points. Praneeth pumped his fist in celebration when Sourabh hit a smash out to hand the latter a 21-16 win in the decider and the crown.
Sayali’s victory was in total contrast to the men’s final as she made her opponent do all the running. But for unforced errors, the 24-year-old Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy shuttler could have won by a far bigger margin.
Results (finals, prefix number denotes seeding): Men: 2-B Sai Praneeth (PSPB) bt 1-Sourabh Verma (PSPB) 21-13, 10-21, 21-16.
Doubles: 4-Sai Praneeth/ Nanda Gopal K (PSPB/ AAI) bt 1-Pranav Chopra/ Akshay Dewalkar (PSPB/ AI) 22-20, 14-21, 21-15.
Women: Sayali Gokhale (AI) bt Tanvi Lad (AI) 21-16, 21-17.
Doubles: 4-Aparna Balan/ N Sikki Reddy (PSPB/AAI) bt 1-Pradnya Gadre/ Prajakta Sawant (AI/PSPB) 21-16, 16-21, 21-19. Mixed doubles: 1-Pranav Chopra/ Prajakta Sawant (PSPB) bt 2-Arun Vishnu/ Aparna Balan (PSPB) 21-15, 22-20.