Aparna-Prajakta win PSPB doubles title

The IOCL pair of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant prevailed over Ashwini Ponnappa and Arathi Sara Sunil of ONGC 27-25, 21-15 in the women's final doubles on the penultimate day of the 35th PSPB Inter Unit Badminton Tournament here Thursday.

The first game was a nail biter with both pairs attacking unrelentingly. Aparna and Prajakta were aggressive in targeting young Arathi.

In the second game Aparna and Prajakta raced to a early lead due to a few unforced errors from the ONGC pair. The gap was too large to fill up and Aparna and Prajakta comfortably emerged winners.

BPCL continued their good run in the championships when George Thomas got the better of B Gurung of HPCL in the men veterans final. George won the match comfortably 21-12, 21-14.

BPCL was equally dominant in the veterans doubles when both the pairs were from BPCL. Bhushan Akut and George Thomas won their match against the pair of Milind Ghate and Pradeep Iyengar quite comfortably 21-10, 21-9.

In the men's semi-final matches, national champion Saurabh Verma of ONGC was dominant in his win over former international Chetan Anand and won it 21-10, 21-18. He will be playing against K. Srikant of IOCL in the finals who won his match against H.S. Prannoy, who was retired hurt due to an injury.

In the women's single semi-finals Arundhati Panthawane of ONGC beat teammate Riya Pillai 21-17, 21-14 to set up a finals clash with P.C. Thulasi also from ONGC. Thulasi beat a spirited Tanvi Lad of IOCL 21-17, 21-14.

The men's singles, the women's singles and the men's doubles finals are scheduled to be played Friday at 12 noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.