Chetan Anand and Trupti Murgunde lifted the men's and women's singles titles respectively in the Canara Bank-sponsored All India Senior Ranking Badminton tournament in Bangalore on Saturday.
Twenty-three-year-old second seeded Anand defeated giant-killer J B S Vidyadhar of Andhra Pradesh 15-11, 9-15, 15-11 in the title round.
The victory has obviously boosted the confidence of this Junior Engineer with ONGC ahead of the Asian circuit beginning with the Singapore Open next week, followed by the Indonesian and Malaysian Opens.
Though there were some tense moments in the final game in which Vidyadhar, seeded number four, threatened to stage a comeback, the Chennai-based Anand said he was confident of victory as he knew his opponent's game very well.
And to be fair to Vidyadhar, who yesterday eliminated the top seed and reigning national champion, Abhinn Shyam Gupta, he did not play too badly. It was just that Anand played better today.
Anand, who had just returned after taking part in the New Zealand Open, pocketed a winner's cheque of Rs 40,000 which should come handy as he is taking part in the Singapore Open at his own expense, barring the ticket provided by the Badminton Association of India.
The women's singles final sprang no surprise as Trupti, seeded number three, beat Krishna Deka Raja of Assam 11-0, 13-11.
Trupti, the 21-year-old Maharashtrian based in Pune, breezed past her opponent, who had beaten former National champion Manjusha Kanwar on her way up here, in the first game but found the going tough in the later part of the second.
Krishna Deka, who had won the national junior title twice, rallied brilliantly from 3-8 and then 4-10 down to level the score at 10-10 and 11-11 only to let the gains slip through her hands.
Trupti walked away with Rs 20,000.
