BPCL blank Oil India to move into semis

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) romped their way into the semifinals of the 36th inter-unit PSPB badminton championships defeating Oil India 3-0 at the Karnataka Badminton Association (KBA) courts here on Wednesday.

Riding on a splendid show by the Indian international Guru Sai Dutt and Aditya Prakash, BPCL registered comfortable wins in the singles and the doubles matches, to finish off the proceedings in the initial three ties on the opening day of the championship.

In the first singles match, Aditya breezed past Hirakjyoti Neog 21-11, 21-9 to give his team a 1-0 lead, while the world number 42, Sai Dutt, thumped Anshuman Hazarika 21-8, 21-12 to make it 2-0 for BPCL, seeded third in the championship.

There was no real fight in the doubles clash either as Aditya and Sai Dutt handed the pair of Anshuman and Hirakjyoti a 21-11, 21-12 drubbing to put the tie beyond Oil India’s reach.

In the other ties of the day, GAIL and HPCL recorded 3-0 wins over MRPL and EIL respectively to move into the last four, while ONGC qualified for the semifinals, courtesy a bye.

BPCL will face Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) for a place in the final, while GAIL (India) Limited will lock horns with top seed Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ON­GC) in the second semifinal.

In the only women’s team match, ONGC beat GAIL (India) Limited 2-0 to book a place in the semifinals, where they will be joined by BPCL, EIL and IOCL, who were awarded a bye in the quarterfinals.

Results: Team Championships (all quarterfinals): Men’s: GAIL bt MRPL 3-0; Oil India lt to BPCL 0-3; EIL lt to HPCL 0-3. Women: ONGC bt GAIL 2-0. Veteran: ONGC bt MRPL 2-0; Oil India bt EIL 2-1; BPCL bt HPCL 2-1; IOCL lt to GAIL 0-2.