Ashwini, Thulasi win doubles title

Ashwini Ponnappa and Thulasi P C clinched the women’s doubles crown after registering a hard-fought victory in the final of the inter-unit PSPB badminton tournament at the KBA courts here on Saturday.

Second-seeded pair of Ashwini and Thulasi of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation got the better of top seeds Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant of Indian Oil Corporation Limited 21-11, 13-21, 21-12 in the summit clash.

In the men’s doubles title round, top seeds Arun Vishnu and Tarun Kona of IOCL eased past second seeds Diju V and Rupesh Kumar K T of ONGC 21-17, 21-16.

ONGC shuttlers had a field day in the singles too with fourth seed Sourabh Verma, who overcame team-mate fifth seed Prannoy H S 21-8, 21-23, 21-15, to set up a final date with his team-mate and second seed Sai Praneeth B, who outclassed eighth seed Subhankar Dey of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited 21-10, 21-13.

Results: Men: Semifinals: 4-Sourabh Verma (ONGC) bt 5-Prannoy H S (ONGC) 21-8, 21-23, 21-15; 2-Sai Praneeth B (ONGC) bt 8-Subhankar Dey (HPCL) 21-10, 21-13.

Doubles (semifinals): 1-Arun Vishnu/ Tarun Kona (IOCL) bt 4-Amit Singh/ Ravinder Singh (GAIL) 21-14, 21-13; 2-Diju V/ Rupesh Kumar K T (ONGC) bt Hemanagendra Babu/ Srikanth K (IOCL) 17-21, 21-16, 21-15.

Final: 1-Arun Vishnu/ Tarun Kona (IOCL) bt 2-Diju V/ Rupesh Kumar K T (ONGC) 21-17, 21-16.
Women: Semifinals: 1-Thulasi P C (ONGC) bt 3-Trupti Murgunde (IOCL) 21-8, 28-30, 21-7; 2-Tanvi Lad (IOCL) bt 4-Arundhati Pantawane (ONGC) 11-21, 21-18, 21-16.
Doubles (final): 2-Ashwini Ponnappa/ Thulasi P C (ONGC) bt 1-Aparna Balan/ Prajakta Sawant (IOCL) 21-11, 13-21, 21-12.

Veteran (men, final): 1-George Thomas (BPCL) bt Sheel Sood (ONGC) 21-8, 21-11.
Doubles (final): 1-Bhushan Akut/ George Thomas (BPCL) bt 2-Milind Ghate/ Pradeep Iyengar (BPCL) 21-11, 21-10.