Chetan wins Bitburger Open badminton title

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) Chetan Anand beat compatriot Arvind Bhat in a thrilling tussle to win his maiden Grand Prix title in Bitburger Open badminton tournament at Saarbruecken in Germany.

Chetan, seeded fourth, came through gruelling three games after losing the first to seventh seed Bhat and prevailed 23-25, 24-22, 23-21.

•   E-mail Article
•   Printer Friendly
•   Text-Size    

The national champion was riding a form high and won the Czech International title last week.

World no 30. Chetan had more reasons to smile as his wife Jwala Gutta combined with V.Diju to win the mixed doubles title of the four-star event.

Jwala and Diju beat Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark 8-21, 21-17, 22-20.

'It is a dream come true for me and Jwala. We have been waiting for this day for long. This is just the start and many more titles will come our way,' an elated Chetan told IANS.

Chetan said that though he was down one game, he was confident of coming back in the finals.

'I have played Bhat before and I know his game. I am in good shape for the last few weeks and I was confident of winning the final. I was down in the second and third game as well, but I took my chances and it paid off.'

India were close to win another title but Aditi Mutatkar lost in the women's singles.

The Pune girl, playing in her first major international final, gave a tough fight but lost 24-21, 8-21 21-23 to Indonesia's Maria Febe Kusumastuti. Mutatkar had upset second seed Juliane Schenk of Germany in the semifinals.