KUWAIT CITY, Dec 12: Jabbar Farooqi and Faheem Contractor on Friday showed why they are considered one of the best pairs in the country. They put in an excellent show to take the lead in the top-most tier on the opening day of the latest badminton Indian Badminton Association – Kuwait (IBAK) tournament at an Arabic school in Sabah Al Salem area.
This event, which is IBAK’s last tournament for 2010, saw most of the players at their best as they tried to end the year on a high note, is being made possible by the IBAK Organizing Committee who are committed to deliver quality matches for all the members and non-members.
Blue Tier, Red Tier Pool, Green Tier and Yellow Tier are the four categories in order of seniority and experience among which the players have been divided to afford them competition according to the standard of their game. All the classes will see their matches being completed for a running score of 21 points but in case of a tie a slide to 2 points wins the set or match.

Blue Tier
In Blue Tier, the tandem of Jabbar Farooqi and Faheem Contractor took the driver’s seat when they won all the three matches that they played on Friday.
Farooqi and Contractor started the day by outlasting Puskaraj Altekar and Mathew Jacob 19-21, 21-15, 21-15 but they wasted no effort to thump Ravishankar and Roman Alekseev 21-18, 21-16. To round off an excellent day and ensure that they were alone at the top in the standings they edged Dr. Manimara Chozhan and Noor Kalamattu 16-21, 23-21, 21-15.
Farooqi and Contractor are a pair who have an excellent understanding of each other as they have been playing together for quite a while and performing remarkably well but they did not start the day off well as they lost the first set of the tournament when Altekar and Jacob showed that they had warmed up faster than their opponents, giving away 19 points to go up one set.Altekar and Jacob, however, had forgotten the firepower and determination of Farooqi and Contractor as the latter came bouncing back in the second set, giving away only 15 points to level the match and force the game into a third deciding set.In the last set, the story of the second set was repeated as Farooqi and Contractor were just too strong, again giving away only 15 points to take the match.
In the next match, Farooqi and Contractor took on Ravishankar and Alekseev but by now they were all warmed up and functioning like a well-oiled machine as they gave away 18 points in the first set and 16 in the second to take the game.

In their last game of the day, Farooqi and Contractor were involved in a really tough match when they lost the first set to Chozhan and Noor Kalamattu who gave away only 16 points to go up one set in the match.The second set between these two pairs was probably the best of the day as Farooqi and Contractor were on the verge of losing the second set and with it the match as their opponents really played their hearts out.The game swung like a pendulum before Farooqi and Contractor finally prevailed 23-21 to take the set and level the match.It seemed that Chozhan and Kalamattu had given it all in the second set as they were only a shadow of what they had shown in the first two sets when the third set started as Farooqi and Contractor gave away only 15 points to wrap up both the set and the match.
Ravishankar and Roman Alekseev were placed 2nd best when they first overwhelmed Pushkaraj Altekar and Mathew Jacob 21-19, 21-17 before edging Bader K and Samsudeen 20-22, 21-18, 21-13.
Ravishankar and Alekseev after losing one match were not in the mood to lose another as they put in their best against really tough opponents. They beat Altekar and Jacob in only two sets but they were stretched to the limit in their next game as they were taken to three sets before they could win. The first two sets were really close and could have gone either way but Ravishankar and Alekseev showed that they mean business in the last set when they won it easily.
Bader K and Samsudeen bounced back from their defeat to overcome Dr. Manimara Chozhan and Noor Kalamattu 22-20, 21-12,

Initial Standings
Bue Tier P W L Tp Rank
Jabbar F & Faheem C. 3 3 0 6 1
Ravishankar & Roman A 3 2 1 4 2
Bader K & Samsudeen 2 1 1 2 3
Pushkaraj A & Mathew 2 2 0 4
Dr. Manimara C & Noor K 2 2 0 5

Red Tier
In Red Tier, Arun Rajagopalan and Mohan led the class as they tamed Sanal and Binal in back to back sets 21-12, 21-12, before brushing aside Sunil and Jyothish 21-12, 21-13, and overpowering M Oommen and Sunil Kumar 21-11, 21-12 .
Rajagopalan and Mohan put in a power-packed display in all their matches and had no difficulty brushing aside all their opponents.In fact they were very miserly as 13 points was the maximum they gave away in any set.They were so good that they controlled all their matches with ruthless efficiency band dictated the terms to all their opponents.Not in any match did they take their foot off the accelerator as they piled up the points.

Manoj and Krishnakumar were also in form when they thumped Subramanyam P and Sunil Kumar 21-17, 21-15, before overcoming M Oommen and Sunil Kumar 21-16, 22-20
Not to be outdone by the performance of the others, Unnikrishnan and Sajith hammered Sudhakar and Unnikrishnan 21-9, 21-11, before they were involved in a tough first set but very easy second one when they overwhelmed Lekha and Manjunath 22-20, 21-3
Dhanya and Jojo George also showed how good they are when they overwhelmed Arun Rajagopalan and Mohan 21-16, 21-19 before taming Manoj and Krishnakumar 21-17, 21-14.
In the other matches, two pairs had the consolation of winning at least one match each. This happened when M Oommen and Sunil Kumar outlasted Tom and Giri 21-16, 18-21, 21-7, and Sanal and Binal edge Tom and Giri 21-14, 6-21, 21-11

Initial Standings
Red Tier P W L Tp
Arun R & Mohan 4 3 1 6
Manoj & Krishnakumar 3 2 1 4
Unninikrishnan & Sajith 2 2 0 4
Dhanya & Jojo G 2 2 0 4
M Oommen & Sunil Kumar 3 1 2 2
Sanal & Binal 2 1 1 2
Suresh C & Biju Chacko 0 0 0 0
Tom & Giri 2 0 2 0
Sudhakar & Unnikrishnan 1 0 1 0
Subramanyam P & Sunil Kumar 1 0 1 0
Santhosh & Ramu 0 0 0 0
Sunil & Jyothish 1 0 1 0
Lekha & Manjunath 1 0 1 0
Morrison & Shyam 0 0 0 0

Green Tier
In Green Tier, Nanda and Baburaj showed that they mean business and are the players to watch when they first overwhelmed Siva and Phanny Krishna 21-18, 21-13, before brushing aside Anand and Dr. Phalani 21-18, 21-18.They then went on to overcome Thomas Moolayil and Smita 21-19, 21-17 and in the end they outlasted Prasad and Faiz Foizen 21-17, 11-21, 23-21 to round off a perfectly fine day.
Nanda and Baburaj showed they should be in a higher category as they displayed the skills of really experienced players. They were not troubled by any of their opponents in the first three matches and were only stretched by Prasad and Foizen in their last match of the day when the latter took one set off them.

Santhosh and Ronnie found the going to their liking when they took to the courts and thumped Anirudh and Anurag 21-9, 21-9.They then brushed aside Sai Balagopal and Nithin 21-13, 21-18 before overcoming Anand and Dr. Phalani 21-12, 21-6, 21-18,
In the other matches, Salim and Nouf outlasted Anand and Dr. Phalani 21-13, 18-21, 21-12,before they edged Siva and Phanny Krishna 21-12, 6-21, 21-18 and in the end showed their class when they thumped Prasad and Faiz Foizen 21-15, 21-14 Prasad and Faiz Foizen were also in good form when they first tamed Santhosh and Ronie 21-17, 21-18, before overwhelming Siva and Phanny Krishna 21-12, 21-8,
To round off Friday’s matches for the Green Tier, Sai Balagopal and Nithin thumped Srinivas and Kiran 21-13, 21-18, Salim and Nouf thrashed Anirudh and Anurag 21-7, 21-5, Thomas and Smitha tamed Shrinivas and Kiran 22-20, 21-13, Anand and Dr. Phalani edged Thomas Moolayil and Smita 21-17, 10-21, 21-5

Green Tier Initial Standings
Team P W L Pt Rank
Nanda & Baburaj 4 4 0 8 1
Salim & Nouf 4 4 0 8 2
Santhosh & Ronnie 4 3 1 6 3
Prasad & Faiz Fouzen 4 2 2 4 4
Anand & Dr Pazhani 4 1 3 2 5
Thomas Moolayil &Smitha 3 1 2 2 6
Sai Balagopal & Nithin 2 1 1 2 7
Siva & Phanny Krishna 3 0 3 0 8
Kiran & Srinivas 2 0 2 0 9
Anirudh & Anurag 2 0 2 0 10

Yellow Tier
In Yellow Tier, which is the lowest of the categories and is based on players who are either new to the game or the least experienced, Clara and Choloe conquered top spot when they hammered Sunitha and Nikhil 21-11, 21-11, before they again showed their class to overwhelm Ravindran and Rishab 21-9, 21-14. In their last match of the day they brushed aside Persis and Peraline 21-3, 21-2 in a way that left their opponents wondering what had hit them.
Vineeth and Darvin were on top of their game when they scored 2 wins as they outlasted Neha and Sathish 21-13, 21-23, 21-19 before taming Sai and Johan 21-15, 21-16.
Neha and Sathish fought back from their earlier defeat to overwhelm Sayooj and Ashwin 21-13, 21-11 before overpowering Sunitha and Nikhil 21-11, 21-4
To round off the matches for this category, Ravindran and Rishab thrashed Persis and Peraline 21-4, 21-6, while Sai and Johan brushed aside Sayooj and Ashwin 21-7, 21-17, and Sunitha and Nikhil bounced back and crushed Ravindran and Rishhab 21-7, 21-7.

Initial Standings
Team P W L Pt Rank
Clara & Chloe 3 3 0 6 1
Vineeth & Darvin 2 2 0 4 2
Neha & Sathish 3 2 1 4 3
Saikrishna & Johan 2 1 2 2 4
Ravindran & Rishab 3 1 2 2 5
Sunitha &Nikhil 3 1 2 2 6
Sayooj & Aswin 2 0 2 0 7
Peersis &Pearlene 2 0 2 0 8