Chetan Anand and P Gopichand were to meet across the nets for what was being billed as the most explosive match of the meet, until it all fizzled out five minutes from the start, when Gopichand’s racquet swatted his Indian Oil partner Jaseel P Ismail on the brow while he was attempting a smash. ONGC’s Chetan Anand and Rupesh Kumar were leading 7-4 in the first set when the match was conceded to hand ONGC the men’s team title for the second time on the trot.

Earlier, ONGC started on the backfoot when Indian Oil’s Ajay Jayaram undid Thomas Kurien 21-16, 21-14. Chetan came on for the second singles and faced a sprightly young talent in P Kashyap. Kashyap had raced to a 5-2 lead before Chetan found his grip on the wooden courts, paving the way for a keen contest.

At 10-7 down, Chetan duelled with Kashyap for the longest rally in the match and earned himself a point. Chetan was still 10-15 down when luck began to favour him, and he caught up with his junior at 15-15. Chetan saved a set point at 19-20 and then held service for the set. The second set was easier, with a string of negative points from Kashyap making the national champions task simpler — and he celebrated with an ear-splitting scream. He had made his point and the best-of-five contest now was on an even keel.

ONGC then won their first doubles, Thomas Kurien and V Diju coming together to defeat IOCL’s JBS Vidhyadhar and Markose Bristow 21-17, 21-7 and lost the third singles to square the tie before IOCL conceded the deciding second doubles.

IOCL had similar luck in the women’s teams event, losing 0-2 to Bharat Petroleum. National champion Saina was first to take to court and had no trouble warding off the challenge from BR Meenakshi, 10 years her senior. “The singles wasn’t tough and since we’ve played many times, I know her game,” said 18-year-old Saina, who celebrated a quiet birthday on Monday.

Saina, however, will not play in the open event of the tournament, preferring to go home and get in more practice before the Indian Open. “I’m nervous at the thought of it being a home event. I like to concentrate on my match and once I get distracted — and little things distract me — it takes some time before I find my rhythm,” Saina spoke of her blinkered approach.

In BPCL’s doubles match, Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurien beat BR Meenakshi and Aparna Balan 21-12, 21-10 — the successful left-right pairing winning with ease. “The left-right combination works well for us. The backhand is usually the weaker stroke, and so between Shruti and me, we cover the court well playing on our forehands,” said Jwala.

In the open event, a depleted field takes to play. Only four teams are participating in the women’s doubles, eight in women’s singles, while the men are in healthier numbers — 32 for the singles and 15 for the doubles.

Final Results: Men’s teams: ONGC bt IOCL (3-2). Thomas Kurien lost to Ajay Jayram (16-21, 14-21); B Chetan Anand bt P Kashyap (22-20, 21-14); Siddhartha Jain lost to JBS Vidyadhar (10-21, 19-21); Diju V/ Thomas Kurien bt JBS Vidyadhar/ Markose Bristow (21-17, 21-07); Rupesh Kumar/ Chetan Anand bt P Gopichand/ Jaseel P Ismail (7-4 retired).