This Sachin is a handful

Despite the absence of Anup Sridhar and Chetan Anand, the Tata Open badminton tournament was billed as a big-time event. But by the time the title clash arrived, an aging warrior who had almost quit the game some years ago was still standing tall.

Sachin Ratti, having dumped Ouseph and big hope Anand Pawar on his way, was the challenger in front of top seed Aravind Bhat in the final. The way this player-turned-coach bridged the generation gap doesn8217;t quite speak well for the younger generation of power-play era, though he did go down to world No 41 Bhat 21-19, 21-9.

Prakash Padukone, the former All England champion wasn8217;t surprised with Ratti8217;s march in the given format. 8220;This format allows anybody who can mix power with tactical play to do well,8221; he observed.

Ratti was modest. 8220;I8217;m pleasantly surprised at the way I played. The last final I played was in 2003 at an all-India event,8221; said Ratti. 8220;I just played my natural game and in the given format if you try to play rallies and play shots with some pace then you can score points,8221; felt the Railways player.