Shuttler Kashyap wins in PSPB tournament

Top shuttler Parupalli Kashyap notched up an easy win on the opening day of the 35th PSPB Inter Unit Badminton Tournament as Team Championships commenced at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here Monday.

After the initial rounds, the semifinals in the men's team championships saw ONGC beat BPCL 3-0. However, the score does not reflect the story of the tie.

Playing for ONGC, national champion Saurabh Verma beat Aditya Prakash in a closely contested three game victory, coming out on top 15-21, 21-17, 21-15. B. Sai Praneeth beat Arvind Bhat 20-22, 21-18, 21-11 to take the tally to 2-0 and in the doubles, with the opponents retiring, ONGC won 3-0.

In the other semifinal, IOCL beat HPCL 3-0. Playing for IOCL, Parupalli Kashyap was in full flow beating Laa Talar 21-13, 21-13. In the other two matches, Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold winner K. Srikanth beat Shubhankar Dey 21-19, 21-15 while in doubles Arun Vishnu and Srikanth beat Dey and Shyam Prasad 21-19, 21-14.

In the women's team championship, BPCL beat ONGC 2-0 when P.V. SIndhu got the better of P.C. Thulasi 21-9, 21-10. In doubles, Sindhu teamed up with Jwala Gutta to beat Ashwini Ponnappa and P.C. Thulasi 24-22, 21-15. In the other semifinal, EIL beat GAIL 2-0.

In the veteran team championship semifinal, BPCL beat EIL 2-0 while GAIL prevailed over ONGC by the same margin. This contest saw the longest match of the tournament when Ajay Jindal and Kumarsen from GAIL beat Pradeep Kaul and Venugopal 22-20, 20-22, 21-19 in 52 minutes.

The final of the Team Championships in all the three categories will be held Tuesday.