Defending champion, Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), successfully retained the crown by vanquishing Air India 3-0 in the men’s team championship of the All India Public Sector Badminton Tournament 2011-12 at the K V B R Indoor Stadium in Yousufguda here today.
Meanwhile, in a major upset, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) put it across Airports Authority of India 2-1 to emerge as the women champions. The bulk of the ONGC work was done by B Sai Praneeth, who notched up two impressive wins in singles and doubles. The women final began on an exciting note when Neha Pandit defeated Rituparna Das to give a 1-0 advantage. However, the experience of the IOC team saw it scrape through for a memorable win. Team Championship-Finals-Men: ONGC bt Air India 3-0 (B Sai Praneeth bt Gopi Raju 21-12, 21-14; Sourabh Verma bt Aditya Joshi 21-16, 21-9; Sai Praneeth/Pranav Chopra bt Akshay Dewalkar/ Manu Atri 20-22, 21-16, 21-19) Women: Indian Oil Corporation bt AAI 2-1 (Rituparna Das lost to Neha Pandit 21-18, 19-21, 13-21; Aparna Balan bt Sikki Reddy 21-13, 11-7 (Conceded); Prajakta Sawant/Trupti Murugunde bt Mohita/Sikki Reddy 22-20, 21-7. UNI