BY JOSEPH ODOEKWU
Le Duc Phat of Vietnam, has won the men’s single final of the just concluded 7th edition of the Lagos Badminton Classics after beating India’s Samarveer in a thriller clash that made him the only non-Indian that clinched gold in the championship.
The Vietnamese who was without a coach in this tournament lived up to his hype as number one seed in this tournament, beating Samarveer 2-1 even though the Indian had two coaches behind him providing him with technical support.
The game started with the Vietnamese winning the first game by 21-10, but things turned around in the second game as the Indian won by 21-18 to drag the Vietnamese into a third game which was filled with thriller as there was tension packed rising and falling of both players.
Though Le Duc Phat took a lead by 21-20, he could still not be declared winner by the umpire because he needed to win by two point’s difference just as the rule states. A masterly final stroke from the Vietnamese at about 5:46pm WAT did the magic after he added the final point to win the third game at 22-20.
The victory did not just deny the Indians an opportunity to cart away all the gold made available for the tournament, but it also made Le Duc Phat the second Vietnamese to win the men’s single of the Lagos Badminton Classic since Nguyen Tien Minh first won the championship in the 2019 edition.
In the women singles, women doubles, men doubles and mixed doubles, it was an all India affair, as the Asians who are the only foreign country to come to the championship with the highest number of players cleared all gold available in those categories.
In the women’s singles final, Indian’s Shreya Lele feasted on her fellow compatriot Kavipriya Selvam with two straight wins, to become women’s champion from wins of 21-11 and 21-16.
The women’s doubles and men doubles was also an all Indian affair, as a combination of Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi beat the duo of Vaishnavi Khadkekar and Alisha Khan 2-0 (21-11, 21-16 ) to emerge women double champions.
In the men double final, Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Vishnuvardhan Goud PANJALA beat the duo of P.S Ravikrishna and Akshan Shetty with 2-0 (21-17,21-19) to win the gold, while the host, Nigeria’s duo of Alhaji Aliyu Shehu and Uchechukwu Deborah Ukeh, who lost in the final of the mixed doubles bowed to Indians duo of Sathwik Reddy Kanapururam and Vaishnavi Khadkehar by 2-0 (21-12,21-14).
