BHUBANESHWAR: Unnati Hooda and Kiran George registered contrasting victories to clinch the women's and men's singles titles, respectively in the Odisha Open Super 100 badminton tournament in Bhubaneshwar on Sunday.
Hooda, 14, defeated Smit Toshniwal 21-18, 21-11 in just 35 minutes in the women's singles final while Kiran got the better of Priyanshu Rajawat 21-15, 14-21, 21-18 in 58 minutes in the men's category to end the three-event Indian leg in style. Unnati had reached the final of the Infosys Foundation India International Challenge last year.
Hooda, who was playing her second successive final on the senior national tour, was a bit jittery at the start and conceded a sizable lead to Toshniwal in the opening game. But once she overcame nerves, she began pushing her opponent to play longer rallies and slowly but surely clawed her way back.
She also employed the half-smashes effectively to fetch points to pocket the opening game after taking the lead for the first time at 18-17. Hooda was the dominant player throughout the second game as she raced to a 17-4 lead. The youngster was guilty of dropping easy points from there on but the result was a foregone conclusion by then.
Later, Kiran had to dig deep into his physical and mental reserves to beat Rajawat. Kiran was first off the mark, opening up a 9-5 lead in the opening game but Rajawat fought back to level the scores at 12-12. But the youngster could not maintain the tempo and Kiran bagged nine of the next 12 points to pocket the game.
Rajawat had to play catch up at the start of the second game as well but he clinched eight straight points from 6-8 to open up a sizable lead and never looked back.
Rajawat,19, was playing with confidence at the start of the final game and took a 10-4 lead before Kiran staged a comeback. Kiran went on the offensive as he didn't have much to lose and came out on top as he bagged 12 of the next 14 points to take a 6-point lead. However, unforced errors cropped into his game just when it seemed like he'll coast to win.
That allowed Rajawat to first close the gap to 16-17 and then level the scores at 18-18. However, Kiran, who's named in the Indian squad for the upcoming Badminton Asia Championships, clinched three straight points and the trophy.