PSPB dominates on opening day of national badminton

Rohtak: Shuttlers representing the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) called the shots on the opening day of the 66th inter-state and inter-zonal National Badminton Championship, here on Wednesday.

In the men`s section, PSPB blanked Delhi 3-0 with PO Kashyap and Chetan Anand registering easy wins. While Kashyap defeated Delhi`s Sachin Rawat 21-15 21-9, Anand got the better of Ashish Sharma 21-9 21-12. In the doubles category, Rupesh Kumar and Anup Sridhar beat Hemant Duggal and Devindra Dhillon 21-12, 21-17. In the women`s section, PSPB defeated Maharashtra 2-1 in a keenly contested fight. After Aditi Mutatkar went down to Arundhathi Pantawane 20-22, 19-21, PSPB fought back through Trupti Murgunde who prevailed over Gauri Ghate 15-21 21-17 21-16. In the women doubles, Aparna Balan and Shruti Kurein defeated Gauri Ghate and Jui Agaskar 21-14 21-13.In the day`s others matches in the women`s section, Airport Authority of India defeated Delhi 2-0, Assam beat West Bengal 2-0, while Indian railways, in an interesting match, beat second ranked Kerala 2-1. In the men`s event, Andhra Pradesh defeated West Bengal 3-0, Indian Railways won against Airport Authority of India 3-0, while Madhya Pradesh beat Assam 3-2. PTI