MUMBAI, JULY 24: Rutupurna Kulkarni and Krupa Telang won the men's and women's singles Vanita Samaj Open badminton title at the Samaj's Dadar courts today. Kulkarni plodded through the first and breezed through the second game in his 17-15, 15-3 while Krupa prevailed over Meenakshi Wagh 13-12, 11-3.Kulkarni missed one game point at 14-11 after Patwardhan had taken early lead 6-1. Kulkarni equalled scores and then moved ahead into advantage. A brief struggle for supremacy followed. The game was won finally at 17-15.The second game was a mere shadow of the first and one sided. His night shifts probably taking their toll on the Customs-employed Patwardhan, the left-hander buckled. Kulkarni wrapped up in quick time to end the 40-minute final 15-3.
Meenakshi always looked like coming back into the match even as Krupa kept slipping up. Leading 10-9, Krupa had three game points but lost all. Meenakshi equalled and then saved another game point with a rare correct line judgment. She had misjudged twice insuccessive points and was third-time lucky. Or so it seemed.
Krupa found the will to take the game and then emulated Kulkarni in going full blast in the second even as Meenakshi searched for inspiration. The match ended in 30 minutes, the second game 11-3.
Rohit Sadani lost the sub-junior final to Swapnil Vyawaharkar but made amends in the midget final. Neha Wad won the sub-junior girls' title.
Results (all finals)
Men's singles: Rutupurna Kulkarni bt Vikrant Patwardhan 17-15, 15-3.
Doubles: Kunal Vaswani/Mitesh Hazarnis bt Mayur Tawade/Vikrant Patwardhan 15-12, 15-7. Sub-junior boys: Swapnil Vyawaharkar bt Rohit Sadani 15-11, 15-5. Midget boys: Rohit Sadani bt Abhinav Kapoor 15-8, 15-0.
Women's: Krupa Telang bt Meenakshi Wagh 13-12, 11-3. Sub-junior girls: Neha Wad bt Amruta Sawant 11-1, 11-9. Women's doubles: Meenakshi Wagh/Pooja Kotwani bt Vandana Walinbe/Sarita Chavan 8-15, 15-6, 15-5.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.