39SPORTSARAB TIMES, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

IBAK All-Stars crowned champions

Shreyansh steals show in Third PSC-GCC Open Invitational

By Paul Francis X. FernandesArab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 15: In the Third PSC-GCC Open Invitational tournament con-ducted by the Indian Badminton Association of Kuwait (IBAK), an affiliate of the Kuwait Badminton Federation Shreyansh Jaiswal stole the show and IBAK All-Stars proved their mettle by winning champions trophy.

In terms of participation, the tournament saw some of the well-know players from the interna-tional circuit. For IBAK, it was a huge success and gave boost to its plans to host bigger tournaments where some of the world renowned players will be seen in action in the near future.

The three-day tournament con-sisted of the team and open events in which 245 players took part across 17 events.

Shreyansh Jaiswal won the men’s open singles by beating Andrew Scott 21-3, 21-6 Mohammed Yehya 21-18, 21-11. In the quarter-finals he beat Sulton Hakim 21-7,18-21, 21-14; in the semifinals beat Heri Setaiwain 21-17, 21-10 Senatria Agus Setia Putra 21-9, 21-9.

In the Doubles Men’s Flight 1 Category Winners are Munawer Mohamad and Sunjith Subramanian. They won their category by beating Venkat Gourav Prasad, Anil Kumar Raju 21-13, 21-15; Vikya Andita, Sulton Hakim 22-23, 21-19, 21-19 and Imam Adi Kusuma, Sharon Raphael 21-10, 21-18.

In the Men’s Flight 2 Doubles Category Bastian James and Aneef Latheef overcame the challenges from Gibi Mathew, Shijil Surendran 21-14, 21-10, Anas EC, Andrew Scott 21-14, 21-10; Don Francis, Sanju Mathew 21-19, 21-19; Khalil Ibrahim, Sanal Kumar 21-13, 21-13 and Bader Kalliparambil, Sanil Paul 17-21, 21-06, 21-14.

In the above 45 Veterans Category Jomon George and Jaison Xavier outlasted Sampurna, Iyang (walk-over), Puthiyaveeti Ahmed Usman, Chandramouli Mallu 21-13, 21-14 and Ricson Rabello, James Varghese 21-16, 21-15.

In Ladies Doubles Variela April Sasi Putri, Mrs Jayashree Nair beat Mrs Javaria, Mrs Sapana 21-11, 21-4; Mrs Chery FBA, Mrs Piyanat (walkover), Mrs Joy, Mrs Nikka 21-10, 21-13 and Mrs Kundana Kishore, Mrs Sruthi K.P 22-20, 21-16.

In the Boys Under 11 Singles

Ladies doubles winners

Under 14 girls doubles

Men’s flight 2 doubles

Category Surya Manoj beat Haroon Ahmed 21-1, 21-5; Addison Sumesh 21-3, 21-7; Aiden Aneesh Mathew 21-5, 21-6; Dhruva Bharadwaj 21-16, 21-17 and Ashwin Jayashankar 21-15, 21-10.

In the Boys Under 11 Doubles Category Ajay Abhilash Mathew, Aiden Aneesh Mathew outclassed Arhant, Roshan 21-11, 21-10; Dhruva Bharadwaj, Ashwin Jayashankar 22-20, 21-18 and Joel James, Bharath Latheesh 21-13, 21-16.

In the Boys Under 14 Singles Category Shourya Mukund Joshi beatAshutosh Kulkarni 15-21, 22-20, 21-14; Sarvesh Rajkumar 21-11, 21-11, 23-21; Aaron Jose Thomas 21-19, 21-12 and Sayooj Ajaykumar 10-21, 21-17, 21-14.

In the Boys Under 14 Doubles Category Shourya Mukund Joshi, Aaron Jose Thomas pipped Adwaith Sandip Kuthe, Jayanth Parthasarathy 21-5, 21-11; Adnan Jeff, Sarvesh Rajkumar 20-22, 21- 17, 21-15 and Sayooj Ajaykumar, Dharshan Kumar 21-12, 21-18.

In the Boys Under 17 Singles Category Abheek Isaac beat Abinav Shine 21-8, 21-15; Ashutosh Kulkarni 21-12, 22-23; Keegan Sanctis 21-8, 21-17 and Ainsley

D’Souza 23-21, 21-8.In the Girls Under 11 Singles

Category Nidhi Desai Draw beat Navyaa Satish Kumar 21-5, 21-4 and Mrudhaksha Mohandas 21-6, 21-8.

In the Girls Under 14 Singles Category Neha Shetty beat Megha M Nair 21-3, 21-4; Nidhi Desai 21-9, 21-11; Amnh Yehya 21-16, 21-15 and Mona Tamer 21-13, 21-11.

In the Girls Under 17 Singles Category Category Sapna Prabhu took the crown by beating Sindhu Radhakrishnan 21-6, 21-3; Valli Gangadharan 21-8, 21-14 and Sreeja 21-15, 21-15.

In the Girls Under 14 Doubles Category Pradeep Niyati, Neha Shetty beat Angel Emil, Annmary Sara Abhilash 21-14, 21-3; Vanessa, Mariam John Serah 21- 4, 21-6 and Nivedita, Hanah Mariam Philip 21-13, 21-12.

In the Girls Under 17 Doubles Category Sapna, Sreeja beat Sindhu Radhakrishnan, Srimathi 18-21, 21- 17, 21-19 and Saleeha Tanweer, Saima Tanweer 21-10, 21-8.

In the Team Event IBAK All Stars won the championship by beating the Kerala Badminton

Association.Some of the prominent players

who took part in the tournament included Rupesh Kumar, a former Indian international, Shreyansh Jaiswal, a prodigy from India, Imam Adi Kusuma, an Indonesian interna-tional, Heri Setiwan and several oth-ers from England, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Brazil, the Philippines and India.

The tournament format comprised of men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and veterans (above 45 years as on Dec 31, 2015) doubles and mixed doubles.

The upcoming tournaments include IBAK Coaching Tournament, IBAK interclub tour-nament, IBAK master cup, IBAK Inter Association Tournament and IBAK interschool tournament.

IBAK has developed into an orga-nization which is now ready to take up bigger challenges in future. In addition to the regular tournaments featured in its annual calendar, IBAK will pursue BWF Shuttle time starting December 2016 and International Challenge in October 2017.

Team event winners

Team event runners up

Contador to join Trek-SegafredoMADRID, Sept 15, (AFP): Two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador will join ambitious US team Trek-Segafredo next year from current side Tinkoff as he targets a hat-trick in cycling’s most prestigious race.

“I am thrilled about the opportu-nity that is in front of me. Trek-Segafredo is a very attractive and ambitious project that really inspires me,” the 33-year-old Spaniard said in a statement released by Trek-Segafredo on Thursday.

“I had some excellent conversa-tions with the team management and we have a lot of goals and priorities in common. The big objective is to try and win the most important races on the calendar — first and foremost the Tour de France.”

Contador, who won cycling’s showpiece race in 2007 and 2009, had made the Tour de France his main goal of the season, skipping the Giro to focus on the Tour this summer.

But he was forced to quit cycling’s most famous race in the ninth stage after crashing on both of the opening two stages, suffer-ing injuries including down his right side.

Contador won the Vuelta in 2008, 2012 and 2014 but a fall and severe grazing down one side of his body hampered his form in this year’s edition, which was won by Colombia’s Nairo Quintana.

Contador was stripped of the 2010 Tour title and suspended for two years after testing positive for the banned steroid clenbuterol in the final week of the race.

Men’s flight 1 doubles Men’s veterans Men’s singles winner

BADMINTON