PSPB set up clash with Air India in both finals

Defending champions target another double

A star-studded Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) put itself in line for a double crown for the 14th consecutive time in the ATS National Badminton Team championship at the Siri Fort Sports Complex on Wednesday.

In the final on Thursday, the PSPB will have a common opponent in Air India in both men’s and women’s events.

The PSPB women’s team, led by PV Sindhu in singles and women’s doubles pairing of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, went through to the final with an easy 2-0 victory over Kerala.

The men’s team dropped a point against Airports Authority of India (AAI) in the semifinals, with the men’s doubles pair of Tarun K and Arun Vishnu losing to Nanda Gopal and Mannu Attri 21-23, 21-16, 18-21.

Earlier, former champion Sourabh Verma and K Srikanth pulled off keenly fought singles matches against Rohit Yadav and Kaushal Dharmamer.  But RMV Gurusaidutt gave PSPB the winning point when Nanda Gopal retired hurt while trailing 14-18.

In another semifinal, the Air India men were given a tough fight by Haryana before winning 3-2. The match spilled into the deciding men’s doubles where Gopi Raju and Jishnu Sayal rallied to score a thrilling 14-21, 21-9, 21-16 victory over Ketan Chahal and Saurav Kapoor.  

 The Air India women, led by Sayali Bhagat had to play out of their skins over West Bengal before eking out a 2-0 win.

Sayali was stretched to three games by Sheshadri Sanyal 21-13, 18-21, 21-8 to log the first points for her team. Sheshadri then combined with Amrita Mukherjee to push Saili Rane and Sanyogita Ghorpade in the first game before losing 22-20, 21-15.

 However, it was a setback for Karnataka, who lost to AAI 0-3 in the quarterfinals.

Appearing only in the men’s event, Karnataka had a decent team comprising Rohan Castelino and Anup Sridhar in the singles, but both lost their matches. Vineeth Manuel and Adarsh Kumar’s loss in the men’s doubles completed the whitewash.   

Castelino went down to Rohit Yadav 19-21, 21-10, 12-21 while Sridhar blew up a first game lead to go down fighting 12-21, 21-17, 20-22 to Dharmamer. Manuel and Kumar were then tamed by Nanda Gopal and Manu Attri 10-21, 16-21.



Results: Semifinals:  Men: 1-PSPB bt AAI: 3-1 (Sourabh Verma bt Rohit Yadav 23-21, 17-21, 21-13, K. Srikanth bt Kaushal Dharmamer 21-15, 17-21, 21-13, Tarun K./ Arun Vishnu lost to Nanda Gopal/ Mannu Attri  21-23, 21-16, 18-21,. RMV Gurusaidutt  bt Nanda Gopal  18-14 (retd.)

2-Air India bt Haryana: 3-2 (Anand Pawar bt Neeraj Vashist 21-9, 16-21, 21-19, Aditya Joshi lost to Akshit Mahajan 10-21, 10-21, Akshay Dewalkar / Sanyam Shukla bt Neeraj Vashist/ Akshit Mahajan 22-20, 21-14, Harsheel Dani lost to Ketan Chahal 21-23, 21-12, 21-13, Ketan Chahal/Saurav Kapoor lost to Gopi Raju G./Jishnu Sanyal  21-14 9-21, 21-16)

Women: 1-PSPB bt Kerala : 2-0 (PV Sindhu bt J K Malvika 21-10, 21-12, Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa  bt KP Sruthi/Farha Mather 21-9, 21-18)
Air India bt West Bengal: 2-0 (Sayali Gokhale bt Sheshadri Sanyal 21-13, 18-21, 21-8, Saili Rane/Sanyogita Ghorpade bt Sanyal/Amrita Mukherjee 22-20, 21-15).