Saina, Chetan in final; doubles crown for Jwala:
Guwahati, Dec 4: Top seeds Chetan Anand and Saina Nehwal, both of India, scored convincing wins to reach the finals of the men’s and women’s singles sections respectively in the India International Challenge Badminton Championship at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium at Amingaon here on Tuesday.
The first final of the 15,000-dollar tournament on Tuesday saw the top-seeded pair of Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian scripting a facile 21-11, 21-8 victory over another Indian pair of Aparna Balan and P Jyotshna in the women’s doubles final.
Mizo girl and wife of Chetan, Jwala, later added another title to her kitty by winning the mixed doubles final pairing with V Diju of India. They defeated second seeded Indian pair of Rupesh Kumar and Aparna Balan 21-14, 21-16.
Earlier, top-seeded Chetan Anand stopped giant-killer Utsav Mishra 21-7, 21-18 in the first semi-final to set up the title clash with Wei Feng Chong of Malayasia. The third-seeded Malaysian earned a hard-fought 12-21, 21-18, 21-19 marathon victory over the fifth seeded P Kashyap of India in the other semi-final.
Chetan, who earlier defeated another India international Abhin Shyam Gupta 21-16, 21-12 in the quarter-final, took just 25 minutes to overcome the challenge from Utsav who caused a major upset yesterday by getting the better of the sixth seed Dinuka Karunaratne of Sri Lanka. Utsav could hardly match the superb court coverage and skills of his celebrated opponent.
In the first semi-final in women’s section, fourth seeded Aditi Mutatkar of India gave some initial hiccups to Saina Nehwal in the first game but the experienced Hyderabadi girl, who won the Philippines Open last year to become the first Indian woman to win a four-star tournament, took control gradually to wrap up the match 21-18, 21-15.
In the other semi-final, second seeded Kanako Yonekura of Japan gave a superb display of shuttle-play in typical oriental style to prevail over third seeded Trupti Murugunde of India 21-17, 21-17 to set up the final with Saina Nehwal.
The final in the men’s doubles category will be played between the Malaysian pair of Peng Soon Chan and Hun Pin Chang and the Indian pair of T Dinesh and Jayan James.
All the finals will be played from 3 pm onwards on Tuesday.
Source: The Assam Tribune
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