Gopi Chand, Aparna reassert retain singles crowns

In the women’s section, playing in the fourth final in a row, top seed Popat made short work of former champion PVV Laxmi of Andhra Pradesh 11-3, 11-4 in just 17 minutes to bag her second successive title.

In the men’s double, Jassel P Ismail and Vincent Lobo (BAI) combined well to overcame spirited Rajeev Bagga and Vijay Deep Singh (Rly) 15-10, 3-15, 15-18. This was Jassel’s fourth successive national double’s title.

Interestingly, all four times Jassel has played with different partners. Top seeded pair of Manjusha Kanwar and Archana Deodhar (Maharashtra) routed Aparna Popat and Manju T Abraham (Kar) 15-4, 15-3 to win the women’s doubles while in the mixed doubles,Archana Deodhar and Vincent Lobo waged a grim battle to overpower Madhumita Bisht and Vinod Kumar (Railways) 17-16, 15-11, 15-6 to claim their second title.

The singles finals turned out to be an anticlimax with defending champions retaining titles without any challenge.

Gopi Chand, who had beaten Bakshi in the semifinals in the Hyderabad Nationals last year, said after his win, “I never expected such an easy win.”

“Of my four title wins in the Nationals, this was the easiest,” said the 26-year-old Gopi Chand.

The champion was of the view that his rival, playing in his first National final, did not play as well as “I had expected because he is capable of displaying much better badminton.”

“He (Bakshi) did not get his length,” Gopi Chand said and added, “I played to a plan that was to keep the shuttle in play and keep the pace varying, when ever I got struck, I changed the pace.”

Bakshi just had no answer to the attacking game of Gopi Chand and the 28-year-old Railway employee wasreduced to a helpless spectator as the defending champion unleashed powerful shots.

Bakshi could earn only six points in his nightmarish 22-minute final.

Gopi Chand claimed the first game 15-3 in just 10 minutes and then took another 12 minutes to clinch the second (15-3), and received a cheque of Rs 28,000 and a colour television.

Bakshi, who created a sensation yesterday by ousting Abhinn Shyam Gupta, failed to reproduce the form he had displayed in the semifinals and caved in without any resistance. He received Rs 14,000.

In the women’s section, Popat played a very fast and attacking game to annihilate Laxmi 11-3, 11-4.

Former world junior champion Popat was surprised at her easy win, “I never thought that final will be over in just 17 minutes.”

“I did not make many errors while Laxmi committed many errors which surprised me,” the champion said after her win.

Asked how she was able to overwhelm Laxmi with such an ease, Popat replied “perhaps it was my fitness.”