Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen wins 4th title of the season, claims Scottish Open
Glasgow: Fast-rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen claimed his fourth title in three months, bagging the Scottish Open title with a thrilling win over Brazil's Ygor Coelho in the men's singles summit clash here.
The top-seeded Indian overcame his Brazilian opponent 18-21, 21-18, 21-19 in a 56-minute final on Sunday night.
The 18-year-old from Uttarakhand has now clinched three titles out of the four tournaments that he has played since September -- SaarLorLux Open, Dutch Open, and Belgian International. After losing in the second round of Irish Open, Lakshya made amends this week and dished out some superb performances right from the start.
The Indian began his campaign with a straight-game win over Austria's Luka Wraber, before defeating compatriot Kiran George to reach the quarterfinals. The world no.41 Indian then recorded another straight-game win over sixth-seed Brian Yang before seeing off France's Christo Popov in the semifinals.
After this win, Lakshya will break into the top-40 in the BWF rankings and inch closer to a direct qualification in the top grade 2 events.
Lakshya thus joined fellow Indians Anand Pawar (2010 and 2012), Arvind Bhatt (2004) and Pullela Gopichand (1999) in winning the Scottish Open title.
During the final, Lakshya had fallen behind in the opening game but he managed to turn the tables and grab a 10-8 lead. Coelho, however, reeled off six straight points to move to a 14-10 lead. The Indian kept breathing down his opponent's neck but Coelho ensured he had the bragging rights after the opening game.
Stung by the reversal, Lakshya came out firing in the second round and jumped to a 7-0 lead in the second game. The Brazilian slowly clawed back at 17-17 but Lakshya managed to bounce back into the contest.
The decider turned out to be an evenly-fought contest and both the shuttlers battled hard to gain the lead. Coelho enjoyed an 11-8 advantage at the break but a gritty Lakshya kept drawing parity and eventually had the last laugh. PTI
Lakshya will now play at the Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament at Lucknow starting Tuesday.
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Devajit Saikia set to take over as BCCI secretary, Prabhtej Bhatia likely to become treasurer
Mumbai, Jan 4: Devajit Saikia on Saturday filed his nomination for the post of the BCCI secretary whereas Prabhtej Bhatia applied for the post of the treasurer, with both officials being the only applicants for the two roles.
Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh's Bhatia has applied for the treasurer's position after the post was left vacant by the exit of Ashish Shelar, who recently took oath as a cabinet minister in the Maharashtra government.
On the other hand, Saikia has been working as the interim secretary of the Indian cricket board since Jay Shah took over as the ICC chairman on December 1.
Saikia was nominated as the interim secretary by the BCCI president Roger Bonny after Shah had left the role.
As per the election schedule on the board's website, the window to file the nomination application was open till 4:00pm on Saturday afternoon and according to sources, only Saikia and Bhatia have put forth their nominations.
