Balan--Sawant duo in final of women's doubles

The duo of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant of IOCL defeated Ashwini Ponnappa and Arathi Sara Sunil of ONGC in straight games to win the women's doubles event on the penultimate day of the 35th PSPB Inter Unit Badminton Tournament here today.
Balan and Sawant won the match 27-25 21-15.
The first game was a nailbiter with both pairs attacking relentlessly. Balan and Sawant were aggressive in targeting the young Arathi.
In the second game Balan and Sawant raced to an early lead due to a few unforced errors from the ONGC pair. The gap was too large to fill and Balan and Sawant 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's veterans final. George won the match comfortably 21-12 21-14.
BPCL was equally dominant in the veteran's doubles. 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 semifinal matches, national champion Saurabh Verma of ONGC was dominant in his 21-10 21-18 win over former international Chetan Anand. He will be playing against K Srikant of IOCL in the finals tomorrow.
Srikant won his match against H S Prannoy after he retired hurt due to an injury.

In the women's singles semifinals, Arundhati Panthawane of ONGC beat teammate Riya Pillai 21-17 21-14 to set up a final clash with P C Thulasi, who is also from ONGC. Thulasi beat a spirited Tanvi Lad of IOCL 21-17 21-14.
The men's singles, womens singles and men's doubles finals are scheduled to be played tomorrow at the DDA Squash and Badminton Stadium.