Kerala State senior badminton championships: Govind Krishna lifts maiden men’s singles title; Andrea Sarah Kurien retains women’s crown

In the zone: Govind and Andrea overcame tough challenges in the title clash to claim their victories.
| Photo Credit: Stan Rayan

There was one phase early in the second game of the Kerala State senior badminton championship’s men’s final on Sunday when Govind Krishna felt all was lost.

The 22-year-old from Kozhikode, yet to recover fully from a recent hamstring injury, had lost the opening game against Ernakulam’s S. Abhishek and was down 0-4 in the next.

“At that stage, I thought the match was gone and I felt I didn’t have anything to lose so I played a bit more freely. And then, I got into the zone,” said Govind after defeating Abhishek 13-21, 21-15, 21-17 for his maiden State senior title at the CSN Trust hall here.

“He made many mistakes in that second game, he lost the rhythm and I got in.”

And suddenly Abhishek, from Ernakulam, who had looked so inspired in the opening game appeared to have serious doubts about himself in the second game as Govind levelled at nine and then broke away to a 19-15 lead with some telling smashes.

The two were level for a major part of the decider but Abhishek gained a 15-12 lead. However, once Govind equalised at 15, the former turned jittery and committed a series of mistakes.

Andrea again

The top-seeded Andrea Sarah Kurien retained her State women’s title but she was also stretched to three games by second-seed Farza Nazrin.

Farza, who trains at the Prakash Padukone Academy in Bengaluru, had lost the under-19 final to Andrea here a couple of days ago but she appeared to have picked up some valuable lessons from that encounter.

She looked better and stronger initially and moved Andrea around to take the opening game. Andrea, from Ernakulam, appeared to be in some discomfort at that stage.

“My weight training hasn’t been regular so my legs are really weak now. The more I moved, the more I got tired so I tried to be really slow,” she said.

“But then in the second set, I had no choice. I really didn’t think I’d win because I was really tired.”

But while her legs were weary, her mind didn’t give in. She grabbed the openings that came her way and gained a 17-11 advantage in the second game after Farza messed up a flick and a smash. She hung on to it and slowly broke away and never looked back.

The results:

Men’s singles final: Govind Krishna (Koz) bt S. Abhishek (Ekm) 13-21, 21-15, 21-17. Semifinals: Govind bt Jacob Thomas 27-25, 21-13; Abhishek bt S. Akshit 23-21, 16-21, 21-15. Doubles final: M. Shyam Prasad & Vishnu Rajendran bt C.V. Hariprasad & Uday Prakash 20-22, 21-14, 21-14.

Women’s singles final: Andrea Sarah Kurien (Ekm) bt Farza Nazrin (Tvm) 14-21, 21-17, 21-9. Semifinals: Andrea bt Drisya Vijesh 21-15, 21-12; Farza bt C.H. Keerthika 18-21, 21-15, 21-13. Doubles final: Gayathri Nambiar & T.R. Gowri Krishna bt Meenakshi Vinu & Nanda Ghosh 21-12, 21-13.

Mixed doubles final: Edwin Joy & T.R. Gowri Krishna bt Rohit Jayakumar & Diya Arun 17-21, 21-17, 21-14.