Abhinn Shyam wins French Open

BANGALORE, MARCH 19. Abhinn Shyam Gupta, regarded as the most consistent Indian player after All-England champion Pullela Gopi Chand, capped a wonderful fortnight for Indian badminton by winning the $10,000 French Open Championship in Paris on Sunday, according to a press release from the Badminton Association of India (BAI).

Abhinn defeated China-born Xie Yang Chun of Germany in the final 7-1, 7-3, 7-3. For the first time, the French Open was played in the new 7-point, best-of-five games format. En route to the final, Abhinn Shyam beat Anti Winiko (Finland), Robert Knock (England), Andrew Debaka (Canada), M. Vasconcelos (Portugal) and Ruud Kuitjen (Belgium).

Abhinn's best international performance earlier was a runner-up finish in the `Olympic Test' event in Sydney in 1999. He had earlier reached the quarterfinals of the French Open twice and, along with Gopi Chand, was instrumental in India winning the silver medal in the Commonwealth championship in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

He had also played a key role in India reaching the Thomas Cup final round last year.

His compatriot and last year's winner, Siddarth Jain, lost in the semifinals to Xie. Earlier, Siddarth Jain defeated the top seed and World No. 20 Oliver Pongratz in the quarterfinals at 7-4, 7- 5, 4-7, 7-1.

The new format was supposed to favour fast, attacking players, but the Indian players disproved that with their court craft.

In fact the last eight round featured three Indians as Chetan Anand too reached the quarterfinals, before losing to Belgian No. 1 Ruud Kuijten 7-8, 3-7, 7-1, 4-7.

In the women's section, Aparna Popat lost in the last 16 round to Tracy Hallam of England 3-7, 7-8, 5-7.

Prakash Padukone hailed Abhinn's victory. ``Though it is not a Grand Prix tournament, a maiden international title will go a long way in raising Abhinn's morale. Siddarth Jain also played a commendable manner. He lost narrowly in the semifinals when an all-Indian final was very much on the cards,`` said Padukone.

- Our Special Correspondent

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