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Badminton
Abhinn is men's champion
By Rakesh Rao
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Aparna Popat with their trophies after winning the men's and women's titles in the National badminton championships in Lucknow on Friday. - Photo: Sandeep Saxena
LUCKNOW, JAN. 11. At last, the `sentimental favourite' went beyond the popular demand and emerged a deserving champion.
With God and crowd on his side, a `blessed' Abhinn Shyam Gupta eluded the grasp of Karnataka's Arvind Bhatt and grabbed his maiden men's singles title in the National badminton championship here on Friday.
For the second successive day, Abhinn bounced back from a 4-6 deficit in the decisive game to script a dream victory. Following a battle lasting an hour and nine minutes, Abhinn won 0-7, 7-2, 7-0, 6-8, 8-6 after saving three match- points before a packed K.D. Singh `Babu' badminton hall.
Earlier, the women's final took the expected course with Aparna Popat easily winning her fifth straight National title. The top seed took just 27 minutes to put out third-seeded Trupti Murgunde 7-5, 7-3, 7-1.
If Abhinn escaped to victory almost in the same fashion as against Nikhil Kanetkar on Thursday, Arvind has only himself to blame. Up 5-1 in the decisive game, Arvind let go of two match-points at 6-4 and another at 6-5. Here, Abhinn's big- match temperament came to the fore as he kept up the pressure on Arvind, whose repeated attempts to hit close to the sidelines met with disaster.
``I became too cautious once I reached 5-1 (in the decider) and started rallying, which I shouldn't have,'' said Arvind as an afterthought. ``I should have continued to attack. In fact, I should have finished the match in three games but after easily winning the first game, I started playing at Abhinn's pace. That was a mistake,'' was the candid admission of the 23-year-old engineering student from Bangalore.
Abhinn, like yesterday, pointed skywards as he said, ``God was again with me today. I think, the role of the crowd in my triumph was no less,'' said the Sports Officer in Indian Oil.
Arvind needed an early lead in the fourth to keep alive his hopes of remaining in the match. And he did. Though he led 5-2, Abhinn clawed back to make it 5-5 and 6-6 and came within two points of winning the title.
For his showing in the championship, Abhinn collected Rs. one lakh - twice as much as Arvind's share.
Predictable win for Aparna
For Aparna, it was just another day at the office. The only time she trailed Trupti was early in the opening game. Thereafter, it was a predictable fair. But all credit to Trupti for making Aparna work a little harder than expected. Among the younger crop of players, Trupti is sure to hit the headlines sooner rather than later. Aparna got Rs. 80,000 and Trupti Rs, 40,000.
The day also saw Kerala maintain its domination of the men's doubles. Third seeds Sanave Thomas and V. Diju became the new champions from the southern State beating top seeds and practice-partners Jaseel P. Ismail and Jaison Xavier in four games.
In the afternoon, the evergreen Madhumita Bisht added yet another National title - 30th to be precise - by joining hands with Markose Bristow for the mixed doubles title. The 37- year-old from Railways, whose first National title was the sub- junior crown in 1977, now has 12 mixed doubles titles to go with eight singles and nine doubles crowns.
Meanwhile, the Badminton Association of India decided to announce the names of the probables for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup camps on Saturday.
The results (finals):
Men's singles: Abhinn Shyam Gupta (PSCB) bt Arvind Bhatt (Kar) 0-7, 7-2, 7-0, 6-8, 8-6.
Women's singles: Aparna Popat (PSCB) bt Trupti Murgunde (AI) 7-5, 7-3, 7-1.
Men's doubles: Sanave Thomas/V. Diju (Ker) bt Jaseel P. Ismail/Jaison Xavier (PSCB) 7-5, 7-3, 6-8, 7- 5.
Women's doubles: Neelima Chaudhary/D. Swetha (AP) bt Fatima Nazneen (AI)/C.H. Deepti (AP) 8-6, 7-3, 7- 1.
Mixed doubles: Markose Bristow (PSCB)/Madhumita Bisht (Rlys) bt V. Diju (Ker)/Fatima Nazneen (AI) 7-4, 7-2, 7-1.
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