GAIL (India) Limited
PSPB Badminton Tournament
Chetan Anand, Gopichand help ONGC, IOCL reach Men’s Teams Event Finals
Saina Nehwal steers BPCL to Women’s Team Event Finals
New Delhi, March 18, 2008.
The 29th Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) Badminton tournament, being hosted by GAIL (India) Limited, commenced today at the Siri Fort Sports Complex, New Delhi. The tournament was inaugurated by Dr. U. D. Choubey, Chairman and Managing Director, GAIL. Mr. M. R. Hingnikar, Director (HR), Mr. Santosh Kumar, Director (Projects), Mr. A. K. Purwaha, Director (BD), Mr. B C Tripathi, Director (Marketing), GAIL, Mr. V. K. Bawa, Advisor, PSPB and other senior officials of the participating companies were present on the occasion.
On the first day of the tournament, matches for Team Events were played in the Men’s Women’s and Veteran’s categories.
In the Men’s Team Event, ONGC and IOCL Teams have entered the finals. ONGC defeated GAIL 3-0 in the first semifinal whereas IOCL defeated BPCL 3-0 in the second semifinal.
In the first semifinals, B. Chetan Anand of ONGC defeated Ravinder Singh of GAIL 21-10, 21-11, Thomas Kurien of ONGC defeated R. Parihar of GAIL 21-3, 21-11, Rupesh Kumar and V. Deju of ONGC defeated Ravinder Singh and B. K. Gupta of GAIL 21-08, 21-10.
In the second semifinals, Ajay Jayram of IOCL defeated Ajit Wijetilak of BPCL 21-12, 21-19, P. Kashyam of IOCL defeated Arvind Bhat of BPCL 21-15, 11-21, 21-19, P Gopichand and JBS Vidyadhar of IOCL defeated S. Chopda and RP Aditya of BPCL 21-16, 4-4 (conceded).
In the first semifinal of the Women’s Team Event, Saina Nehwal of BPCL defeated Maya Dasrath of GAIL 21-0, 21-2, Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurien of BPCL defeated Neelima and Maya Dasrath of GAIL 21-3, 21-4 to take BPCL to the final of the vent.
In the second semifinal, B R Meenakshi of IOCL defeated Sampada of EIL 21-4, 21-5 and B.R. Meenakshi and Aparna Balan of IOCL defeated Vineeta and Richa of EIL 21-2, 21-1 to take IOCL to the final of the event.
In the team event for Veterans, two quarterfinals were played today. In the first quarterfinal IOCL defeated GAIL 2-0 (Y Y Valde of IOCL bt Daimary of GAIL 21-6, 21-10 and Pradeep Chaliya of IOCL bt R D Goyal and R N Mittal of GAIL 21-17, 23-21). In the second quarterfinal, Pradeep Iyangar of BPCL beat Srikant Ramdesai, HPCL 21-14, 21-9 and M Ghate and Pradeep Iyangar of BPCL beat P B Shashidharan and P I Ibrahim 21-9, 21-8.
Important Matches Tomorrow
Women’s Team Event Finals – BPCL vs IOCL – 11 a.m.
Men’s Team Event Finals – ONGC vs IOCL – 12 noon