Harpal Singh Bedi / Greater Noida
Star studded ONGC, with HS Prannoy and Sai Praneeth in the ranks began their title defense for the Men’s Team Championships with a dominating performance blanking their respective rivals to storm into the finals of the XXXIX PSPB Inter Unit Badminton Tournament on Tuesday
Other leading players of the country taking part in the tournament include Sourabh Varma, Chirag Shetty, Ashwini Ponnappa, V Diju, R M V Gurusaidutt, Ajay Jayaram, Sameer Verma and Rituparna Das .
In the quarter finals ONGC trashed hosts Engineers India Ltd. 3-0 and then overpowered OIL by identical 3-0 in the Semis.
The Semi Finals were however closely contested even though the score of 3-0 does not reflect the intensity of the matches.
In the first match between the Prannoy beat Orijit Chaliha (OIL) 21-12, 21-17. In the 2nd singles, young Swaranraj Borah from OIL impressed with his talent against the experienced B Sai Praneeth but lost ,after putting up a good fight, 11-21, 23-25.
The 21 yr old was again part of another good contest when he partnered Hirak Jyoti Neog 10 minutes after his singles match but they lost in another thrilling 3-setter to the pair of Pranaav J Chopra and Tarun Kona, 10-21, 21-16, 9-21.
ONGC will play Indian Oil in the finals scheduled to be played on Wednesday
In the Women’s team championship ONGC defeated MRPL 2-0 to make it to the finals where they will face off against the experienced IOCL team who defeated EIL 2-0 in their Semi Finals.
Wednesday will also witness the start of the Individual competitions where defending champions Rituparna Das and Sourabh Verma ( ONGC) will be endeavoring to retain their titles.
Earlier in the day, the 39th edition of the prestigious tournament was inaugurated by Mr. JC Nakra, C&MD, Engineers India Ltd. in the presence of dignitaries which included Mr. VC Bhandari (Director HR), Mr. Sunil Bhatia (Director Finance), Mr. Ashok Kalra (ED, HR), Mr. S. Haldar (Member Secretary, PSPB).