Govt employees can’t 'serve' sports bodies beyond one term

The influence of bureaucrats and government officials on the sports bodies is likely to reduce considerable with the Union Sports Ministry making it clear that no government employee can hold an elective office at any level of the federation for more than four years or one term, whichever is less.
Surprisingly the circular, issued on April 3, 2012, has hardly led to a debate like the one that was initiated by many sports federations when the proposed draft of the National Sports Bill attempted to restrict the tenure of the office bearers to 12 years with an age cap of 70.
According to the earlier provisions, government employees only had to seek permission from his/her department to contest elections or accept a position on the sports bodies. For year, bureaucrats ruled the sports federation at the district and state levels before politicians began replacing them in the last two decades.
Federations failing to make amendments to their constitution accordingly would not be recognised.
The circular clearly mentions that the state governments and union territories should also amend their laws accordingly. May be, it’s time for government officials to concentrate on the job at hand.

GMBA district meet needs to be better organised

If you thought that playing matches well past midnight was a problem only on the international circuit or junior ranking tournaments in India, then you haven’t visited the Greater Mumbai Inter District tournament this week.

For the first two days the matches went well beyond midnight. Unlike the other two categories of tournaments listed above where the duration of individual matches or extremely high number of entries has been the reason for the long schedule, the story of GMBA inter-district tournament was about mismanagement and callous approach by the officials.

For the start, chief referee TRN Swami was not available at the venue (Swami insists that he had informed the organisers that he wasn’t available and hence should not be nominated as Chief Referee) and hence the players and non-qualified people ended handling the responsibility of preparing the schedule and conducting the tournament.

While Swami was unavailable due to personal reasons, the district body did not appoint any other qualified officials to oversee the proceedings, which created further issues during the matches as the players and even the spectators were seen protesting some of the decisions taken by the on-court officials.

The district championship is conducted in six age categories and had about 330 entries, which meant that there were about 75-80 matches to be played per day during the first round. This meant that the officials had to be strict about maintaining the schedule.

However, what was surprising was that some players were allowed to come at their own convenience and many a times the other team had to wait for an hour or two beyond the scheduled time just because their opponents came late.

Instead of giving walkovers, the organisers preferred delaying the schedule and penalising those who came on time.

The bigger problem is about the officiating. Greater Mumbai Badminton Association, headed by Kulin Manek, has a dearth of qualified officials and those in the Mumbai Suburban prefer to stay away from the district meet over payment issues.

With Swami also missing in action, there was no qualified official to take a decision about walkovers during the tournament and created a bigger havoc.

It’s time the GMBA gets its house in order. 

BAI announces Rs 10 lakh award for Saina

Badminton Association of India president Akhilesh Das Gupta has announced a award of Rs 10 lakh for world number five Saina Nehwal in appreciation for her back-to-back victories in the Thailand Open Grand Prix gold tournament and the Indonesia Super Series Premier last week.
In Indonesia, Saina became the first Indian shuttler to have won a Super Series Premier title.
“We look forward to lots of such laurels from our players. We are confident that these titles will be followed by medals in the forthcoming London Olympic Games 2012," said Das Gupta.

Singapore SS: Indian challenge ends

Indian challenge in the Singapore Super Series came to an end on Friday when the mixed doubles combination of Jwala Gutta and V Diju went down 13-21, 21-14, 21-17 against Hung Ling Chen and Wen Hsing Cheng of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals.

The Indian combination began on an aggressive note taking the first game in just 11 minutes with Jwala showing brilliant interception abilities at the net. But the change of ends also changed the fortunes for the former national champions as both Jwala and Diju were struggling for consistency.

There were many occasions where Jwala and Diju both failed to read the flight of the shuttle or lost the trajectory of the shuttle and thereby swinging wild without contact.

The pair will now be training in Hyderabad till the Olympics.

Result (quarterfinals)

Mixed doubles: Jwala Gutta/V Diju lost to Hung Ling Chen/Wen Hsing Cheng 13-21, 21-14, 21-17

Singapore Super Series: Only Jwala-Diju survive second day thrashing

Former mixed doubles national champions Jwala Gutta and V Diju were the only Indian survivors after the second day of the Li-Ning Singapore Super Series which saw the country’s challenge in men’s singles and women’s doubles come to an abrupt end.
Jwala-Diju, seeded sixth, got the better of the Malaysian combination of Aik Quan Tan and Pei Jing Lai 21-15, 21-15 to advance to the mixed doubles quarterfinal. They will now face second seeds Hung Ling Chen and Wen Hsing Cheng of Chinese Taipei for a berth in the semifinals.
In other matches, all three Indians in the men’s singles draw faced reversals and so also the women’s doubles combinations of Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa and Pradnya Gadre/Prajakta Sawant.
India’s challenge in women’s singles and men’s doubles had been cut short in the first round itself.

Results (second round)

Men’s singles
RMV Guru Sai Dutt lost to Boonsak Ponsana (Thailand) 21-12, 21-8
Anand Pawar lost to Victor Axelsen (Denmark) 21-19, 21-17
Ajay Jayaram lost to 6-Tien Minh Nguyen (Vietnam) 21-15, 21-14
Women’s doubles
Prajakta Sawant/Pradnya Gadre lost to 3-Shizuka Matsuo/Mami Naito (Japan) 21-18, 21-15
Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa lost to Meiliana Jauhari/Greysia Polli (Indonesia) 21-15, 22-20
Mixed doubles
6-V Diju/Jwala Gutta bt Aik Quan Tan/Pei Jing Lai (Malaysia) 21-15, 21-15

Singapore Super Series: Mixed day for Indian shuttlers

Indonesia open semifinalist P Kashyap failed to replicate the form he showed in Jakarta and was shown the door by second seed Hyun Il Lee of Korea in the first round of the Singapore Super Series on Wednesday.
However, his compatriots Ajay Jayaram, Anand Pawar and RMV Guru Sai Dutt kept the Indian hope alive by advancing to the second round. While Kashyap went down 21-18, 21-12 against the Korea, Ajay had little trouble in packing off Frenchman Brice Leverdez 21-12, 21-14. Guru shattered the hopes of local boy Zi Liang Derek Wong with a 21-12, 21-13 winner, while Pawar rallied to get the better of Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon 12-21, 21-11, 21-19.
It was a good out for India’s other Olympic bound shuttlers with the women’s doubles combination of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa thrashing Singapore’s Jiayuan Chen and Juan Gu 21-9, 21-8. Later in the day, Jwala teamed up with V Diju to beat the Indonesian combination of Markis Kido and Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth 21-18, 21-12 to advance to the second round.

Results (first round):

Men’s singles
RMV Guru Sai Dutt bt Zi Liang Derek Wong (Singapore) 21-12, 21-13
Sourabh Verma lost to Yun Hu (Hong Kong) 22-24, 21-12, 21-10
Ajay Jayaram bt Brice Leverdez (France) 21-12, 21-14
Anand Pawar bt Kevin Cordon (Guatemala) 12-21, 21-11, 21-19
P Kashyap lost to 2-Hyun Il Lee (Korea) 21-18, 21-12
Women’s singles
P V Sindhu lost to Xiao Jia Chen (China) 21-16, 21-12
Women’s doubles
Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnapa bt Jiayuan Chen/Juan Gu (Singapore) 21-9, 21-8
Men’s doubles
K Tarun/Arun Vishnu lost to Thien How Hoon/Wee Kiong Tan (Malaysia) 21-9, 21-13
Mixed doubles
K Tarun/Ashwini Ponnappa lost to Noriyasu Hirata/Miyuki Maeda (Japan) 21-15, 21-17
6-Jwala Gutta/V Diju bt Markis Kido/Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth (Indonesia) 21-18, 21-12

Hashim to hold coaching camp in Pune

Former All England champion Muhhamad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia will conduct a three week coaching camp starting next month at the Li-Ning Nikhil Kanetkar Badminton Academy in Balewadi, Pune.
Confirming this, Kanetkar said the camp will be held from July 1-22 at the academy complex and is open for any badminton player who wants to interact with the 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medalist and learn the tricks of trade from one of the most gifted players in world badminton.

Some major achievements of Hafiz Hashim:

- 2002 Commonwealth Games-Champion
- 2003 All England Open-Champion
- 2003 Dutch Open-Runner Up
- 2005 Thailand Open-Champion
- 2005 Swiss Open-Champion
- 2005 Dutch Open-Champion
- 2005 German Open-Runner Up
- 2005 Denmark Open-Runner Up
- 2005 Sudirman Cup-Champion(second division)
- 2006 Philippine-Open Champion
- 2009 India Open-Runner Up
- 2010 Commenwealth Games-Champion(mixed team)

Indonesia SS Premier: Saina wins her third Indonesian crown

If there was any doubt in anybody’s mind about whether Saina Nehwal would be able to challenge the Chinese hegemony at the London Olympics, the 22-year-old gave a fitting reply to everyone with her maiden Super Series Premier title at the Indonesia Open in Jakarta on Sunday.
The world number five, who had won the Thailand Grand Prix Gold last week, saved two match points before ending Li Xuerui of China’s 30 match unbeaten run to win 13-21, 22-20, 21-19 in one hour four minutes to pocket 11000 ranking points and $48750 as prize money.
This was Saina’s third Indonesian title in four years. However, the earlier two in 2009 and 2010 came when the tournament had not been upgraded to Premier level.
While there was no doubting Saina’s ability to challenge Xuerui, the real question was whether the Commonwealth Games Gold medallist had enough fuel in her tank to play yet another long encounter against a supremely fit opponent.
The world number five started sluggishly and before she could get into any rhythm, Xuerui had already pocketed the first game.
Saina began the second game with much more confidence and began playing her drops and flat tosses effectively. She raced to 18-14 lead before a flurry of errors allowed Xuerui to earn two match points. But the Indian was not ready to give up and preyed on the nerves of her opponent to claim the next four points and force the match into the decider.
The fifth seed kept her nose ahead in the decider throughout and could not hide her jubilation when Xuerui hit the shuttle in the net to hand her the crown.

Saina’s road to title

First round: bt Sayaka Sato (Japan) 21-12, 14-21, 21-17
Second round: bt Aprilla Yuswandari (Indonesia) 21-17, 14-21, 21-13
Quarterfinals: bt Shixian Wang (China) 21-17, 14-21, 21-13
Semifinals: bt Ji Hyun Sung (Korea) 22-20, 21-18
Final: bt Li Xuerui (China) 13-21, 22-20, 21-19

Indonesia SS Premier: Saina in final

World number five Saina Nehwal once against proved that her preparations for the London Olympics were on track when the 22-year-old overcame a stiff challenge from Korea’s Ji Hyun Sung 22-20, 21-18 in just under an hour to enter the final of the Indonesia Super Series Premier badminton tournament in Jakarta on Saturday.

The Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who had come through a draining quarterfinal against Shixian Wang, looked a bit weary but had enough fuel in the tank to reach her fourth consecutive Indonesia Open final. She will now face China's Li Xuerui, who upset top seed Yihan Wang in the other semifinal.

Saina, who won the title here in 2009 and 2010, began confidently in the first game and raced to a 16-9 lead. But a spate of unforced errors allowed the Korean to claw back and the Indian had to save a game point before pocketing the game.

The Bharat Petroleum also had to stage a comeback in the second game but once she took the lead she never led the match out of her grasp.

While Saina was euphoric, compatriot P Kashyap saw his dream run in the competition come to a tame end when he failed to negotiate the guile of local hope Simon Santoso and went down 21-15, 21-12.

Results (semifinals):

Men’s singles: P Kashyap lost to 7-Simon Santoso (Indonesia) 15-21, 12-21

Women’s singles: 4-Saina Nehwal bt Ji Hyun Sung (Korea) 22-20, 21-18

India squad for Asian U-19 announced

National champion P V Sindhu will lead the Indian team for the Asian Youth U-19 championship to be held at Gimcheon in South Korea from June 30 to July 7.

Squad: 

Boys: C Rohit Yadav, Sameer Verma, Pratul Joshi, Abhishek Yeligar, B Venkatesh, BT Hemendra, G Gopi Raju, Santosh Ravuri. 
Girls: Aarthi Sara Sunil, PV Sindhu, Riya Pillai, Ruthvika Shivani, Rituparna Das, K Maneesha, J Meghana, Poorvisha S Ram. 

Coaches: Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Hendra Mulyanio. 

Physio: Yogesh Shetty. 

Manager: Bijoy Koijam. 

Indonesia SS Premier: Kashyap, Saina is semifinals

India's top shuttlers, P Kashyap and Saina Nehwal, registered contrasting victories to advance to the semifinals of the Indonesia Super Series Premier badminton tournament in Jakarta on Friday.

Kashyap, who had upset top seed Chen Long of China in the second round, once again executed his plans to perfection and did not allow his opponent to settle down in a rhythm to thrash Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark  21-15, 21-14 in the quarterfinals.

The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist had earlier reached the semifinals of two Super Series tournaments but SS Premier is a grade above.

He will now face seventh seed Simon Santoso of Indonesia for a place in the final.

Saina squeezes through

Later in the day, world number five Saina looked like wrapping her quarterfinal match in a hurry but wasted three match points in the second game and then survived many anxious moments before prevailing 21-17, 21-23, 21-19 over third seed Shixian Wang in one hour 36 minutes.

However, the last eight encounter against the only top five Chinese shuttler against whom Saina has a positive head-to-head looked like an one-sided affair till the half way stage when Saina lead 20-17 in the second game after winning the first.

But a few errors brought the pressure back on the Commonwealth Games gold medallist and the match went into the decider.

Both player's raised the bar in the decider and Shixian refused to give in despite trailing 19-15. She caught up with the Indian but Saina kept her cool and took the next two points to wrap up the match and set up a semifinal date against Korea's Ji Hyun Sung, who accounted for sixth seed Jiang Yangjiao and second seed Xin Wang from China in the last two rounds.

Results (quarterfinals):

Men's singles: P Kashyap bt Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (Denmark) 21-15, 21-14
Women's singles: 5-Saina Nehwal bt 3-Shixian Wang (China) 21-17, 21-23, 21-19

Indonesia SS Premier: Kashyap upsets top seed Chen Long

The last time Parupalli Kashyap had managed to beat a Chinese shuttler was back in 2008 when he got the better of Lu Yi, currently ranked 226th in the world, twice. The only other time he had advanced in the tournament when pitted against a Chinese opponent was when former world champion Chen Jin gave him a walkover in the India Super Series in April, which helped Kashyap qualify for the Olympics.
But on Thursday, with the burden of the Olympic qualifying race off his shoulder, P Kashyap  began expressing himself on the court and the approach paid off for him when he upset top seed and world number three Chen Long of China 21-17, 21-14 in the second round of the Indonesia Super Series Premier in Jakarta.
The Gopi Chand Academy trainee, who had skipped last week’s Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold to fully recover from his injury, went into the match with a 0-3 head-to-head record against the Chinese but never played second fiddle in the entire 45-minute encounter to reach the quarterfinals.
Despite the match analysis showing that Kashyap won more points with his smashes as against the stronger Chinese opponent, it was the defence of the Indian shuttler that stood out through out.
The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist threw himself across the court on numerous occasions and showed the patience to prolong the rallies till a frustrated Chen Long ended up hitting his smash wide and even forgot to celebrate the victory.
Kashyap will now face Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark for a berth in the semifinal.
In the day’s other matches, fifth seed Saina Nehwal had to dig deep to overcome the challenge of local hope Aprilla Yuswandari 21-17, 14-21, 21-13 while national champion P V Sindhu went down 21-14, 21-14 against 8th seed Juliane Schenk of Germany.

Kashyap’s head to head record against Chinese

Lin Dan 0-2

Bao Chunlai 0-3

Chen Long 1-3

Chen Jin 0-3

Pengyu Du 0-1

Huan Gao 0-1

Lu Yi 2-1

Results (second round)

Men’s singles:

P Kashyap bt 1-Chen Long 21-17, 21-14
Ajay Jayaram lost to Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (Indonesia) 21-15, 21-14

Women’s singles:

5-Saina Nehwal bt Aprilla Yuswandari (Indonesia) 21-17, 14-21, 21-13
P V Sindhu lost to 8-Juliane Schenk (Germany) 21-14, 21-14

Indonesia SS Premier: Good day for Indians

India’s top shuttlers made a positive start to their campaign in the Indonesia Super Series Premier on Wednesday with only the women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa biting the dust in the opening round.

Jwala and Ashwini went down against second seed Qing Tian and Yunlei Zhao of China 13-21, 17-21 despite playing their hearts out. However, there was no such problem for the other Olympic hopefuls with Saina Nehwal and P Kashyap advancing after hard fought victories while Jwala and Diju got the better of the Korean combination of Yeon Seong Yoo and Ye Na Jang 14-21, 21-11, 21-16.

Results (first round)

Men’s singles

Ajay Jayaram bt Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) 21-16, 21-14

P Kashyap bt Kevin Cordon (Guatemala) 21-19, 19-21, 21-16

RMV Guru Sai Dutt lost to 5-Hyun Il Lee (Korea) 13-21, 21-11, 20-22

Women’s singles

5-Saina Nehwal bt Sayaka Sato (Japan) 21-12, 14-21, 21-17

PV Sindhu bt Maria Febe Kusumastuti (Indonesia) 13-21, 21-18, 21-19

Men doubles

K Tarun/Arun Vishnu lost to 3-Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (Denmark) 14-21, 13-21

Women’s doubles

Pradnya Gadre/Prajakta Sawant lost to Melvira Oklamona/Khaeriah Rosmini 23-21, 19-21, 19-21

Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa lost to 2-Qing Tian/Yunlei Zhao (China) 13-21, 17-21

Mixed doubles

V Diju/Jwala Gutta bt Yeon Seong Yoo/Ye Na Jang 14-21, 21-11, 21-16

K Tarun/Ashwini Ponnappa lost to Riky Widianto/Puspita Richi Dili 16-21, 10-21

Thailand GP Gold: Saina wins second title of the year

Saina Nehwal began her countdown for the 2012 London Olympic Games with a title triumph in the Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament beating home favourite Ratchanok Inthanon in a hard fought summit clash on Sunday.

The world number five, who had earlier won the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold crown in March, got the better of Inthanon 19-21, 21-15, 21-10 in one hour and five minutes and also took home 7000 ranking points.

The top seed had struggled to get off the blocks quickly in this tournament and the trend continued on Sunday. Three time world junior champion Inthanon mixed her cross court drop shots with precision to trouble Saina in the first game and raced to a 19-12 lead.

However, the Indian ace was determined to prolong the game as much as possible knowing that the only way to control the match from there on was to tire out Inthanon and the trick worked.

Saina claimed five points in a row – opting to play long rallies—and though she ended up dropping the game the game plan had worked.

It was very evident in the second game that Inthanon was tiring as the Thai girl started to attempt some extravagant winners to cut short the rallies and in the bargain made quite a few errors.

Her approach provided enough invitation for Saina to go take control of the proceedings as she stepped on the gas and increased the pace of the game to pocket the second game.

The decider then turned into a one-sided affair with Saina racing to an 11-4 lead and then wrapping up the encounter in just over an hour to claim her second international title of the year.

Saina will now play in the Indonesia and Singapore Super Series before returning to India for the final leg of her Olympic preparation.

Saina’s road to title

FIRST ROUND: beat Nichaon Jindapon (Thailand) 21-13, 16-21, 21-15

SECOND ROUND: beat Li Han (China) 21-17, 21-13

QUARTERFINAL: beat Sapsiree Taerattanachi (Thailand) 21-10, 22-20

SEMIFINAL: beat Portip Buranaprasertsuk (Thailand) 22-20, 21-11

FINAL: beat Ratchanok Inthanon (Thailand) 19-21, 21-15, 21-10

Thailand GP Gold: Saina in final

Top seed and world number five Saina Nehwal stayed on course for her second Grand Prix Gold title of the year when she got the better of local girl Portip Buranaprasertsuk 24-22, 21-11 in the semifinals of the Thailand GP Gold badminton tournament on Saturday.

The Commonwealth Games gold medallist was slow to get off the blocks and was trailing 9-2 in the first game before she could find her rhythm. She managed to catch up with her Thai opponent at 16-16 but had to save three game points before wrapping the first game.

Having negotiated the hard part, the second game was a cakewalk for the Indian ace as she raced to victory in 42 minutes.

Thailand GP Gold: Saina in semifinals

Top seed and world number five Saina Nehwal was the only Indian to make the semifinal grade of the Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after all the three men’s singles players had to bite the dust.

Saina defeated local girl and eight seed Sapsiree Taerattanachi 21-10, 22-20 to set up a semifinal clash against 3^rd seed Porntip Buranaprasertsuk for a place in the summit clash.

Results (quarterfinals)

Men’s singles:

12-Sourabh Verma lost to Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Indonesia) 21-16, 21-13

B Sai Praneeth lost to Chen Yuekun (China) 21-15, 21-17

Sameer Verma lost to Huan Gao (China) 21-16, 21-13

Women’s singles:

1-Saina Nehwal bt Sapsiree Taerattanachi 21-10, 22-20

Thailand GP Gold: Four Indians in quarters

Indian shuttlers continued their march in the Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with three men’s singles players along with women’s singles top seed Saina Nehwal booking their quarterfinal berth.
National champion Sourabh Verma saved a match point to upset seventh seed Alamsyah Yunus of Indonesia 18-21, 21-13, 22-20 while B Sai Praneeth overturned a 16-8 deficit in the decider to beat Choong Haan Wong of Malaysia to advance to the men’s singles quarterfinals of the Thailand Grand Prix Gold tournament on Thursday.
The former junior national champion looked down and out when Choon took a big lead in the decider but the Gopichand Academy trainee fought back and despite squandering two match points, kept his cool to wrap up the match 13-21, 21-18, 22-20.
Also advancing to the quarterfinals was junior national champion Sameer Verma, who got the better of Malaysia’s Teck Zhi Soo 21-18, 21-18.
In the women’s section, top seed Saina Nehwal cruised through the second round with a 21-17, 21-13 victory over Li Han of China. However, national champion PV Sindhu failed to negotiate the guile of former world champion Lin Wang, who is returning from injury, to go down 21-12, 25-23.

Results
Men’s singles (pre-quarters)

Sameer Verma bt Teck Zhi Soo (Malaysia) 21-18, 21-18

B Sai Praneeth bt Choong Haan Wong (Malaysia) 13-21, 21-18, 22-20

12-Sourabh Verma bt 7-Alamsyah Yunus (Indonesia) 18-21, 21-13, 22-20

Second round 

K Srikanth lost to 1-Lin Dan (China) 21-11, 21-13

12-Sourabh Verma bt Pakkawat Vilailak (Thailand) 15-21, 21-17, 21-15

B Sai Praneeth bt 9-Brice Leverdez (France) 21-13, 21-15

Sameer Verma bt Jiann Shiarng Chiang (Malaysia) 21-10, 22-20

Men’s doubles (first round)

K Tarun/Arun Vishnu lost to 6-Ricky Suwardi/Muhammad Ulinnuha (Indonesia) 24-22, 21-13

S Sanjeeth/Jagdish Yadav lost to Calvin hong Ong/Wee Gleen Tan (Malaysia) 21-12, 21-6 

Women’s singles (pre-quarters)

1-Saina Nehwal bt Li Han (China) 21-17, 21-13

4-PV Sindhu lost to Lin Wang (China) 21-12, 25-23

Women’s doubles (first round)

Aparna Balan/N Sikki Reddy lost to 1-Xia Huan/Jinhua Tang (China) 21-10, 21-13

Prajakta Sawant/Pradnya Gadre lost to Amelia Anscelly/Fie Cho Soong (Malaysia) 21-19, 21-12

Thailand GP Gold: Indians have a decent Day 1 outing

The Indian contingent had a good outing on the opening day of the Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with junior national champion Sameer Verma registering an upset victory over 11th seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand 21-10, 22-20 in the men's singles first round.
Top seed and world number five women's singles star Saina Nehwal was made to work hard for her first round victory over local girl Nichaon Jindapon 21-13, 16-21, 21-15 in the opening round.

Results (first round)

Men’s singles
K Srikanth bt Marius Myhre (Norway) 14-21, 21-12, 21-7
12-Sourabh Verma bt Sukamta Evert (Indonesia) 21-11, 21-12
B Sai Praneeth bt Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo (Indonesia) 15-21, 25-23, 21-17
Anand Pawar lost to Brice Leverdez (France) 15-21, 21-18, 21-19
RMV Guru Sai Dutt lost to Soon Huat Goh (Malaysia) 18-21, 21-14, 21-13
Sameer Verma bt 11-Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Thailand) 21-10, 22-20

Women’s singles
1-Saina Nehwal bt Nichaon Jindapon (Thailand) 21-13, 16-21, 21-15
4-P V Sindhu bt Mi Jin Jung (Korea) 21-9, 15-21, 21-14

Mixed doubles
Arun Vishnu/Aparna Balan lost to Jian Guo Ong/Yin Loo Lim (Malaysia) 21-14, 21-13

MBL’s second edition enthrals one and all

The second edition of the Cello Maharashtra Badminton League witnessed a grand finale on Sunday when a packed house at t WIE Complex witnessed pre-tournament favourites Daring Doves overcome Inspiring Eagles 3-1 in the final.

The excitement was palpable through-out the nine day’s with the last knock out berth being decided in the last league encounter. While there were many moments that would be cherished over the years we take a look at the few moments and players which defined the tournament.

PDMBA president Aniruddha Deshpande
felicitates Vasant Gore

Overwhelming response

Despite the tournament being a purely state level event with some of the top stars missing there were doubts about the spectator response before the start of the tournament. But all those fears were unfounded with Punekars thronging the stadium every day and the final was played in front of a packed house. In a heart warming gesture, the organisers also felicitated veteran coach Vasant Gore for his service to the game. Gore has trained many state and national level players in their formative stage and most of them were present to applaud their coach on Sunday.

The victorious Daring Doves team

Doves dare, reap reward

Daring Doves owners Pratham Motors decision to retain three players from last year meant that their auction kitty was considerably reduced and they had to settle for the second best players most categories during the auction. But it was a calculated risk for the last edition semifinalists as they expected their retained players to win all their matches. That did not happen and Doves lost two of their league encounters. But their singles stars – Eshan Naqvi and Shubhakar Dey – were in their elements in the business end of the tournament and ensured that there was no last minute hiccup for the team this time around.

Eagles stutter then soar

Last year finalists, Inspiring Eagles became the first team in MBL’s history to be docked a point for unruly behaviour of their owners, who allegedly abused the officials after a debatable call during a crucial juncture in their league encounter against defending champions Sensational Skylark. Eagles, owned by RBS Sportsethix, were docked a point and when they suffered two straight losses thereafter no one gave them a chance. But the team not only sneaked in with an inspiring victory over Doves in their last league encounter they got the better of Skylarks – owned by P N Gadgil Developers -- in the semifinal in what was yet another energy draining mixed doubles rubber to reach the final. That effort did take a toll on their players who lacked the energy to once again challenge the Doves.

Teenage show

Despite this being a senior tournament, two teenagers stood out with their enterprising brand of badminton. Sixteen-year-old Harsheel Dani, playing for Graceland owned Graceful Gulls, has always been highly rated for his talent and the 6 feet 2 inch left hander showed why he is the man for the future. He only lost two matches in the entire tournament. But more than his victory it was the quality of his strokes and the deception that not only entertained the spectators even his opponents were forced to applaud at times.

Harsheel’s stable mate at the Uday Pawar badminton academy, Karishma Wadkar, was considered to be the surprised choice by Pinnacle Group-owned Gorgeous Gannets for women’s singles. But the 15-year-old showed her potential by upsetting senior national finalist Neha Pandit in the league stage. The teenager is on a comeback trail after a hamstring tear last year and team owners would be willing to loosen their purse strings for her in the next auction.

Lifetime disappointment

Mumbai based Lifetime Group, owners of Lifetime Linnets, bought the second most valuable player in the tournament and build a team around him. But nothing seemed to click for Sagar Chopda and his team as they lost all their league matches. On at least three occasions, the team was in a position to clinch the tie but they somehow always managed to find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

In a nutshell

* Champions Daring Doves received prize money Rs.2.25 Lacs

* Runners up  Inspiring Eagles received prize money Rs.1.75 Lacs

* Semi finalist Graceful Gulls and Sensational Skylarks were given cash prize of Rs.50000/- each

* Eshan Naqvi from Daring Doves was named Player of the Tournament and was presented with a Vespa scooter.

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K Shrikanth wins maiden international title

K Srikanth with his Maldives
Open medal.

Gopichand Academy trainee K Srikanth won his maiden international title on Sunday when the 19-year-old defeated former junior World and Asian champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli of Malaysia 13-21, 21-11, 21-16 in the men's singles final of the Maldives International Challenge in Male.

The seventh seed, who had accounted for second seed Jan Frohlich of Czech Republic in the quarterfinals, required just over an hour to beat Zulfadli, who is considered to be the next big hope of Malaysian badminton.

Srikanth's road to final
First round: Beat Mohamed Rasheed (Maldives) 21-12, 21-8
Second round: Beat Zulhelmi Zulkiffli (Malaysia) 21-14, 21-10
Quarterfinal: Beat 2-Jan Frohlich (Czech Republic) 21-5, 21-18
Semifinal: Beat 4-Anup Sridhar (India) 19-21, 21-19, 21-3
Final: Beat 3-Zuldadli Zulkiffli (Malaysia) 13-21, 21-11, 21-16