Imam, Haritha retain UAE Open crowns

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Imam, Haritha retain UAE Open crowns
Haritha Harinarayanan won the women's singles final at the 39th India Club UAE Open Badminton tournament in Dubai on Friday. - Photo by Juidin Bernarrd

Dubai - Admaja overcame top senior Kerala state player Mohammed Munawar, 24-22, 8-21, 21-12

By Moni Mathews

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Published: Sat 4 Jun 2016, 9:45 PM

Last updated: Sun 5 Jun 2016, 1:33 AM

Imam Adi Kusuma Admaja and Haritha M. Harinarayanan retained the men's and women's singles crowns at the 39th Global Hawk Imaging and Diagnostics India Club UAE Open multi-division badminton championships, Friday night.
UAE-based Indonesian Imam Adi Kusuma Admaja, a former top junior in his country and a coach here, overcame top senior Kerala state player Mohammed Munawar, 24-22, 8-21, 21-12.
Indian doubles number six Haritha M. Harinarayanan waited patiently for the kills before subduing Pakistan champion Palwasha Bashir 21-17, 13-21, 21-16 in front of a packed audience.
Munawar who also lost in the men's doubles final, and Kusuma engaged themselves in a high precision game and the first set saw the Indonesian nudge ahead at 16-13 till Munawar returned beautifully at the net to sit on set point (21-19). Before long, Munawar who studied and trained in Dubai under his father's guidance, surrendered the position to be forced into deuces before scrambling home for a 1-0 match lead.
Munawar's better staying powers enabled him to quickly seal the second set before stamping his authority again for the rubber and the crown.
"We know each other well as we train at the academy here often. I had the slight advantage when he (Munawar) made unforced errors as the game progressed," said Munawar.
Palwasha, SAF games bronze medallist, who is now based in the UAE came out with brilliant sharply angled net drops from the base to Haritha who preferred to be more of a retriever rather than attack.
"Being a doubles specialist sometimes goes against the strategy and tactics to stick to against a good allround singles player like Palwasha. The unforced errors in the mid stages of the third set went against her and I just returned more accurately trying to tire her out," said Haritha.
India ranked doubles players Olympian Diju V. and Nandagopal Kadambi defeated Munawar and Sunjith Subramanian 21-16, 21-10 for the men's doubles crown.
Ketan Chahal and Tanisha Crasto clinched the mixed doubles title
with a 21-19, 21-16 victory over Balasubramanim N. and Ma Isabelle Villaran.
Event sponsor Dr. Shafi Ul Mulk, partnering Xavier Raphel, went down 17-21, 19-21 to Alam Syah Masra and Fayhani Rianto in the veteran's doubles above 45 division summit round.
The other supporters of the tourney were Yonex, 106.2 Hum FM, Consolidated Shipping Group, Carrera Sunglasses-Safilo Group, and Supervision Opticals, among others.
moni@khaleejtimes.com


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