Arup annuls Anand’s aspirations

Up 7-1 in the first game, she was made to run around and suddenly, life on the badminton court was not good. Divya Ramesh won the match in straight games 11-7, 11-6.

If this will sound like an epithet, then the was a fairy tale ending too.Ashutosh Pant, a 12-year-old who was unseeded, scalped his fourth seeded player in as many days to come up trumps in the under-13 section. Today, his victim was T Dinesh (AP) 15-13, 15-7.

Chetan Anand tookeight minutes to win the first game. He was a picture of perfection. Tall, and with a good reach, he used placements to trouble Baidya. He kept Baidya mainly to the back court and brilliant found the empty corner of Baidya’s court with his neat strokeplay. But Baidya returned the compliment — winning the second in nine minutes and conceded one extra point (15-2). Baidya’s touch of deception, his better net play and speed over the court gave him a better fight in the second. Then crept in Chetan’s errors as Baidya cantered to the second game.

In the decider, Chetan’s errors gave Baidya the momentum and even as he tried hard to overcome it — through percentage play, keeping the shuttle on court for long — it seemed to work slightly in his favour. The fight lasted till 10-11. Thereafter, Baidya sped away like the Rajdhani Express to his victory.

Trupti, who had knocked out top seed Jwala Gutta, looked in ominous form as she went on an overdrive 7-1. Then, Divya hit a purple patch which took her throughthe contest. Trupti’s frustration was evident. There were too many errors, of judgement also. Then, when she had Divya in a corner, her opponent uncorked brilliant stroke to escape to another point.

The fight came in the second game when Trupti pulled on from 2-7 to 6-8, but it was Divya’s day. Pant typically smashed his way out of trouble. None of Dinesh’s delicacy or deception worked against Pant. If the first game was well fought (15-13), then Pant was like a runaway train in the second winning 15-7.

Amar Mohite of Maharashtra and Jwala Gutta of AP claimed a double each. Mohite won the singles and doubles title in the under-16 section while Jwala won the under-16 singles and under-19 doubles crown.

Riddhi Pajwani suffered a few heartbreaks when leading 10-6 in the decider, squandered a handful of match-points before claiming the under-13 girls title against Aditi Mutatkar. Maharashtra’s Parin Chopra and Varada Dixit won the under-10 titles in the boys and girls sections.

RESULTS(ALL-FINALS)

Boys U-19 (singles): Arup Baidya (Rlys) bt Chetan Anand (A-I) 1-15, 15-2, 15-10. Doubles: Mitesh Hazarnis-V Diju (Rlys) bt Abhishek Bakshi (A-I)-Anup Sridhar (Rlys) 15-4, 15-9.

Under-16 (singles): Amar Mohite (Mah) bt Nishad Dravid 15-3, 15-7. Doubles: Mohite-Ajit Phatak (Mah) bt B Vikas Reddy (AP)-Sandeep Luiz (Ker) 15-11, 12-15, 15-7.

U-13 (singles): Ashutosh Pant (UP) bt T Dinesh (AP) 15-13, 15-7. Doubles: Anshuman Hazarika (Asm)-Anand Pawar (Mah) bt T Dinesh (AP)-Prakash Kashyap (Kar) 8-15, 15-5, 17-14.Under-10: Parin Chopra (Mah) bt MD Anup Kiran 15-5, 15-11.

Girls under-19 (singles): Divya Ramesh (Kar) bt Trupti Murgunde (Mah) 11-7, 11-6.

Doubles: Jwala Gutta-Shruti Kurien (AP) bt Gauri Narayan (A-I)-Fatima (Ker) 15-5, 15-12.

Under-16 (singles): Jwala Gutta (AP) bt Aditi Biswas (Kar) 11-4, 7-11, 11-2.

Doubles: BN Ashwini-MV Saritha (Kar) bt Dhanya Nair-Mansi Bhave (Mah) 15-9, 15-6.

Under-13 (singles): RiddhiPajwani (Mah) bt Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) 11-4, 3-11, 11-8.

Doubles: Shipra Ghoshray-Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) bt Shipi Kankane-Sayali Gokhale (Mah) 17-14, 17-14.

Under-10: Varada Dixit (Mah) bt Mudra Dhainje (Mah) 4-11, 13-12, 11-7.

Mixed doubles: Ketaki Thakkar (A-I)-Mitesh Hazarnis (Rlys) bt Fatima Nazneen-V Diju (Ker) 15-9, 15-11.