BHOPAL, 14 December — Air India shuttlers scored a grand double when both boys and girls laid their hands on Narang Cup and Shafi Qureshi Cup respectively in the 54th Inter-State Inter-Zonal Badminton Championship which concluded here in the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) sports complex on Tuesday.
In the boys category Air India’s Anup Shridhar had to put his best foot forward to thawrt the spirited challenge of Nishad Dravid of Maharashtra and give his team a 1-0 lead. Both Shridhar and Dravid indulged in fine placements and smashes to outwit the other. They toiled hard to earn each point as neither was ready to oblige the rival with the result the former won a close contest 8-7, 7-4, 3-7, 7-5 after much huffing and puffing. Later, Shridhar combined with P. Sunil to outclass the Maharashtra pair of Amar Mohit and Akshay Thakur in straight games 7-3, 7-4, 7-5 to win the Narang Cup 2-0 for Air India.
In the distaff section Shalini Prakash of Air India defeated Amrita Mukherjee of West Bengal without much resistance. After winning the first game without conceding a point Shalini became somewhat complacent and lost the second game 5-7. However, the Air India girl stamped her class in the third and fourth game and won conceding only three points in each encounter to forge her team 1-0 ahead.
Then Fatima Nazneen and B.N. Ashwini proved why they are the strongest pair in the fray here. The combination toyed with West Bengal’s duo Amrita Mukherjee & Pallavi Sengupta to beat them 7-0, 7-3,7-5 in straight games and give Air India 2-0 triumph and lift the Shafi Qureshi Cup.
Meanwhile, the 26th Junior National Badminton Championship was inaugurated by legendary Arjun awardee Prakash Padukone on Wednesday at the same venue. S.N Roy, Executive Director BHEL, Bhopal, which is hosting the championship, presided over the inaugural function.
BHEL will distribute cash prizes to the tune of Indian rupees 0.21 million to the winners and runners-up of the championship.
