DAMMAM, 7 May 2004 — The two-day Federation Cup 2004 Open Badminton Doubles Tournament played at Dhahran School Gyms ended last Friday with some international players displaying unique skills.
Organized by Badminton Federation in collaboration with Dhahran Badminton Association, it had the participation of seven Indian and three Pakistani players. Nearly 300 players participated in the event in nine flights. International players played in separate flights in super singles and super doubles. All games of local players, except the finals of flight 1, championship and premier, were played on the opening day on Thursday (April 29). Matches from flight 6 to premier were of a very good standard.
In an exciting premier flight final, Benny Thomas and Eapen Mathew, both from Riyadh, won against favorites George Puthenmadhom and Omar Nahas 17-16, 15-13. In the championship flight final, Kiran S. Babu and Ozair Farooq beat Tariq Mushtaq and Zuhair Bukhari 11-15, 15-7, 17-14.
In a spectacular super singles final, Pakistan’s No. 1 Singles player Wajid Ali won against India’s No. 5 Anup Sridhar 15-8, 7-15, 17-16. For the second runner-up in super singles, Thomas Kurien beat Sonave Thomas.
In the super doubles, SAF games gold medallists and No. 1 Indian doubles team of Rupesh Kumar and Marcos Bristow beat Gopi Chand and Jaseel P. Ismail 17-16, 15-11. For the second runner-up in super doubles, Sanave Thomas and Thomas Kurien beat Wajid Ali and Ahsan Qamar 15-6, 15-0.
Earlier on Tuesday (April 27), international participants were felicitated at Indian International School-Jubail. The opening of the Federation Cup 2004 was also done at the school. Badminton Federation President George Puthenmadhom presented a copy of the federation souvenir to school principal Mazar Yakub to mark the release of the publication. Three exhibition matches were played at the school to display the standard of the game to children.
Gopi Chand, all-England Champion 2001 and Arjuna Award winner, was the center of attraction of this year’s tournament.
Cash prizes totaling $4,000 were given to overseas players, in addition to meeting all their expenses.
Indian players were Jaseel P. Ismail, Rupesh Kumar, Marcos Bristow, Sanave Thomas, Thomas Kurien and Anup Sridhar, aside from Gopi Chand. Pakistani players included the country’s No. 1 singles player Wajid Ali, Ahsan Qamar and Waqas Ahmed. Bahrain’s international players also took part.
Major sponsors of the event were Saudi Formaldehyde Chemical Company, B.J. Services, Air-India, and Y.B.A. Kanoo.
Winners in various flights: Super Doubles (International) -- Rupesh Kumar/Markose Bristow, Super Singles (International) —Wajid Ali/MD-Premier Benny Mathew/Eapen K. Mathew, MD Championship — A Kiran S. Babu/Ozair Farooq, MD Championship B - Chatty Ramchandra/Achal Srivastava, MD 1&2 - Renin A. Wilson/Safeer Ziauddin, MD 3 - Biju Thomas/Shaju George, MD 4 -- Amit Gandhi/Hamza Yousef, MD 5 - Kabir Hussain/Sunil Ravi, MD 6A - M. Mustafa/Anthony Elias, MD 6B Khaja M. Arief/S. Ibrahim Rahmath, Saudi - Anas Hazen/Hatim Muhammad Al-Zaiyat, LD 1 - Adfa Taqvi/Shakshi Bhala, LD 2&3 Jotinga/Glory Raj, LD 4 - Aditi Shah/Nadiya, LD 5 - Smita Kushare/Sheela Jacob.
