Fourth seed Jayaram scored an upset of sorts against his Petroleum Sports Promotion Board team-mate third seed RMV Guru Sai Dutt 21-17, 18-21, 21-15 to lift the men’s title. “I lost to him (Sai Dutt) several times before, so I was determined to win this time. I played crucial points quite well and that helped me to win today,” said Jayaram.
However, second seed Trupti lived up to her billing to rally past P C Thulasi of Kerala 18-21, 21-8, 21-11 in the summit clash to clinch the women’s crown. “I played a bit slow and my movement wasn’t good in the first game. But once I started moving freely in the second game, it was easy for me. Even when I was trailing, I was confident at some point of time I would come back and win the title,” said Trupti.
Jayaram, whose previous major title win was at the All-India Senior ranking meet three years ago in Mumbai, went for his shots early on and was quite successful in outmanoeuvring his opponent to go ahead by four points at 10-6. But a determined Sai Dutt narrowed the margin with some excellent drop shots.
The 22-year-old Jayaram got back into the groove with a peach of a point at 13-12. The Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy trainee dived at full length to retrieve a drop which caught Sai Dutt napping. Jayaram claimed the first game when the Andhra lad hit a backhand into the net.
Both players went neck-and-neck in the second game until 12-all. Jayaram then made an error in judgement while putting an easy volley into the net to hand Sai Dutt the advantage. Capitalising on his opponent’s largesse, the 20-year-old Sai Dutt levelled the scores as Jayaram hit three successive rallies out.
Jayaram didn’t gave much room for Sai Dutt to come up with his trademark smashes in the third game which worked in former’s favour. Once, Jayaram, took a healthy 14-9 lead, the match tilted in his favour.
Thulasi had only herself to blame for the loss after winning the hard-fought first game. The Keralite committed too many unforced errors in the second and third to end up on the losing side.
Results (all finals, prefix number denote seedings):
Men: 4-Ajay Jayaram M (PSPB) bt 3-RMV Guru Sai Dutt (PSPB) 21-17, 18-21, 21-15.
Doubles: Pranav Chopra/ Sai Praneeth B (AI/AP) bt 1-Arun Vishnu/ Tarun Kona (Ker/AP) 23-21, 14-21, 21-14.
Women: 2-Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) bt 8-PC Thulasi (Ker) 18-21, 21-8, 21-11.
Doubles: N Sikki Reddy/ Thulasi (AP/KER) bt 3-Anjali Kalita/ Jyotshna P (Rly/AI) 21-18, 21-14.
Mixed doubles: Arun Vishnu/ Aparna Balan (Ker) bt Pranav Chopra/ Prajakta Sawant (AI) 21-17, 12-21, 21-18.
