Double for Manjusha

Teaming up with long time friend and doubles partner, Archana Deodhar of Maharashtra, she pushed aside the challenge of Larissa and Pooja Parikh (Railways) 15-5, 15-12 in an encounter lasting two minutes under the hour.

In the men’s final, No 3 Gupta defeated unseeded Ratti 15-12, 15-6. Surprisingly, the encounter lasted just five minutes more than the woman’s final.

In the woman’s final, No 3 Larissa began aggressively and had a 3-0 headstart, which solely was due to the unforced errors of her opponent, committed by hitting a high return toss long and netted a return trying to go for a dribble at the net.

Overcoming the initial blues, top-seeded Manjusha, came up with the occasional flash of brilliance particularly at the net.

Larissa looked all set to take the first game building up a 6-2 lead at mid-way stage. However, Manjusha’s net game proved the winner as a couple of dribbles won at the net had the No 1 seed claw her way back to level scores (6-6).

RESULTS

(Men’s Singles): Abhinn Shyam Gupta (A-I) b Sachin Ratti (Rlys) 15-12, 15-6.(Doubles): Vijaydeep Singh (Pun) & Jaseel Ismail (Ker) b Marcos Bristow & George Thomas (Ker) 15-1, 15-11.

(Women’s Singles): Manjusha Kanwar (Del) b Larissa Sadarangani (A-I) 11-8, 11-3. (Doubles): Manjusha Kanwar (Del) & Archana Deodhar (Mah) b Larissa Sadarangani (A-I) & Pooja Parikh (Rlys) 15-5, 15-12.

(Mixed Doubles): B R Meenakshi & Harish Chander (Rlys) b Firoza Batliwala & Vikrant Patwardhan (Mah) 18-15, 6-15, 15-8.