MUMBAI, JAN 8: Abhinn Shyam Gupta and B R Meenakshi won the Rs 4 lakh NSCI All-India Grand Prix badminton titles on Saturday.A ruffled Nikhil Kanetkar, whose request for a change in shuttle was turned down twice, played too many negative points towards the middle of the second game to lose 7-15, 8-15, giving Gupta his second straight win this week following success at Pune. Gupta collected Rs 35,000 for a 40-minute effort that did not rise to the heights that two of the country's best players were expected to take it to.Meenakshi, leading 9-8 in the second game, was stretched by PVV Laxmi searching for her second straight win after Pune. The match went the distance, 48 minutes to be precise, as Laxmi won the next three points.Meenakshi collected the final game and Rs 24,150, while Laxmi later had the consolation of winning the doubles crown with Madhumita Bisht.Marcos Bristow and Vijaydeep Singh won the men's doubles beating Vincent Lobo and Jaseel P Ismail while the last named took the mixed doublespacket partnering Manjusha Kanwar.After losing the first game, Kanetkar, who sliced through Chetan Anand on Friday with the ease of a knife through hot butter, did fine till 4-4. The `bird' dropped into the net and Kanetkar expressed his displeasure, ignored by the umpire. The match continued and ended with the same shuttle but Kanetkar's match-play dropped.A series of mistakes from the No 3 seed took the top-seeded Gupta to 12-4 as another exchange on the shuttle's behaviour took place between the Pune-born and the non-compliant umpire at 8-4. No luck for Kanetkar and except for one long rally at 13-8, which Gupta ended with a subtle backhand, the match seemed over for the second-seeded player.Results (all finals)Men's singles: Abhinn Shyam Gupta (PSCB) bt Nikhil Kanetkar (PSCB) 15-7, 15-8. Doubles: Marcos Bristow/Vijaydeep Singh bt Jaseel P Ismail/Vincent Lobo 15-12, 10-15, 17-16.Women's singles: B R Meenakshi (Kar) bt P V V Laxmi (PSCB) 11-5, 9-11, 11-3. Doubles: P VV Laxmi/Madhumita Bisht bt Manjusha Kanwar/Archana Deodhar 15-10, 15-6.Mixed doubles: Jaseel P Ismail/Manjusha Kanwar bt Vincent Lobo/Archana Deodhar 15-12, 15-8.
