Nagpur :
Ashwini Ponappa switched partners recently. N Sikki Reddy and R Satwik Sai Raj are her new partners in women’s and mixed doubles respectively. However, it has hardly made a difference to her performance as she won the twin titles, for the first time, in Senior Badminton Nationals on Wednesday.
Combining with Sai Raj, she recorded a fighting victory over World No. 16 Pranav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy 21-9, 20-22, 21-17 in the mixed doubles final. Later, with Reddy, she comprehensively defeated Maharashtra pair of Prajakta Sawant and Sanyogita Ghorpade 21-14, 21-14 to complete the double.
In the men’s double final, which turned out to be a marathon affair, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy shocked top seeds and world No. 28 Satwik Sai Raj and Chirag Shetty 15-21, 22-20, 25-23. The title clash lasted for sixty four minutes.
The second seed pair of Satwik Sai Raj and Ponappa looked in great form in the first game of the mixed doubles final. They finished the opening game in no time. The pair showed brilliant coordination against the top seed pair of Chopra and Reddy. Nothing went right for the top seeds as they were left clueless and lost the one-sided first game.
Chopra and Reddy played much better in the second game and took initial lead before Satwik and Ponnappa caught them up. Chopra and Reddy took a crucial four-point lead towards the end but Satwik and Ponappa kept coming back to make it 20-20. However, Chopra rose to the occasion and finished off the game to level the match.
The third game saw an intense battle till the interval. However, after changing sides, Satwik and Ponappa kept chipping in with important points and maintained the lead throughout. Chopra-Reddy pair reduced the lead but never got ahead. From 15-14, the second seed pair got four successive points and soon finished the game.
The women’s doubles final, however, turned out to be a damp squib. Ghorpade-Sawant pair started off well in both games but conceded the lead at the halfway mark. Ponappa-Reddy pair was hardly given the fight. While Ponappa was oozing with confidence with her title victory in mixed doubles, Reddy was hurt. It worked for both of them as they knocked off the Maharashtra pair challenge in just 27 minutes.
The men’s doubles final, however, went right down to the wire and kept the spectators on the edge of their seats. The second seed pair of Attri and Sumeeth Reddy showed great character whenever they were pushed back to the wall. After losing the first game, they were down 17-20 and it looked all over for them. However, they showed great fight and scored five successive points to level the final.
They had a chance to finish off the game quickly in the third game with a six point lead towards the end. However, Satwik and Shetty showed why they were given the top billing. They played aggressively to level the scores. The pair were on championship point in the third game as well but messed it up. Even after the deuce, they had an opportunity to win the title for the third time but couldn’t do it.
It was Manu and Reddy’s day. They won a close last game. An animated Reddy raced across the court to celebrate the hard-fought victory.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> Sports News> Badminton News / Ruchir Mishra / TNN / November 09th, 2017
