KUWAIT CITY, July 10: Faheem and Noor proved that they were the best pair in the Blue Tier, the senior-most category, to clinch the title in the IBAK Summer Smash Tourney organized by Indian Badminton Association in Kuwait (IBAK) at the Saad Al Awzi School in Salwa, Friday.
While Faheem and Noor, who strolled to the crown in the Blue Tier after winning all the Elimination Round games and brushing aside the opposition in the semifinals and finals, Shyam and Prasad emerged worthy champions in the Red Tier and Pramod joined hands with Shaina to take the title for the combined Green/Yellow Tier.
When the players took to the courts this week the Elimination Round games for the Red Tier had been completed while the last matches for the Blue Tier and the Green/Yellow Tier were still to be played to determine the lineups for the semifinals.

The players after completion of all the Elimination Round matches took to the courts again on the same day for their semifinal games and later the championship finals.
The event was held for the following four tiers although one of them was divided into two categories for the elimination rounds while two of them have been combined for this competition: Blue Tier (the senior most), Red Tier (which has been divided into two groups due to the large number of participants), Green Tier and Yellow Tier. The last two categories were the ones which had been combined into one category for this event as a large number of IBAK members are out of the country on their summer holidays.

Pairs winning their matches in two sets were awarded three points while in the matches which were stretched to three sets saw the winners go home with two points while the losers came off the courts with one point for their efforts.
Yellow Tier: For all beginners — children, ladies or men.
Green Tier: This category is based on players who have been playing badminton continuously for more than 2 years in the recent past, having developed the basic skills of the game and well versed in the rules and regulations of the game.
Red Tier: This group involves players of the intermediate level category, who have improved their playing skills and have taken part in open competitions in similar categories and achieved success in various events.
Blue Tier: This category has players who have been playing badminton at a professional level and have represented their clubs, schools, districts, state, country at a top level and won awards in the open/top categories of the same.

Blue Tier
In the Blue Tier, Faheem and Noor took the crown after outclassing Pushkaraj and Srikumar 21-15, 21-13 in the championship game without having to put in too much effort .In fact they hardly broke any sweat on a very hot day as they cruised to the crown.
It seemed like Faheem were toying with their opponents as they gave away only 15 points in the first set and were more miserly in the second set as Pushkaraj and Srikumar were able to take only 13 points from the ultimate champions.
Earlier in the semifinals, Pushkaraj and Srikumar were stretched to three games before they could overcome Chandra and Anil 21-14, 14-21, 21-17 while in the other semifinal it was the same story for Fahim and Noor as they encountered no difficulty in thrashing Sunil and Manu 21-13, 21-19 with only some opposition being faced in the second set.
Before the lineup for the semifinals it was decided on Friday the Blue Tier players had to take to the courts at least once each to decide the final placing in their group because the team topping the standings was to take on the fourth-placed team while the pair finishing second was to play the pair in the third spot.

Faheem and Noor finished all their five elimination round games unbeaten when they overcame Chandra and Anil 21-19, 22-23 , 21-13 after a really tough fight in the first two sets.
In the other Elimination Round games, Pushkaraj and Srikumar had a nice time on the courts as they walked all over Mohan and Lekha in their 21-11, 21-16 victory while Sunil and Manu were involved in a very tough match and were stretched to the limit before they could win 20-22, 21-17, 21-18.
These results saw Faheem and Noor top the standings in the Elimination Round after five wins in five matches and a total of 12 points. In second place with nine points were Chandra and Anil with nine points after three wins and two defeats.
Pushkaraj and Srikumar were pushed down to third place although they had nine points with four wins and one loss in their five matches. Although they won four matches most of these wins came in three sets which saw them being awarded only two points for each victory. Sunil and Manu collected eight points with three wins and two defeats to confirm the last semifinal spot.

Elimination Standings
Blue Tier
Rank Name P W L Pts
1 Faheem/Noor 5 5 0 12
2 Chandra/Anil 5 3 2 9
4 Sunil/Manu 5 3 2 8
3 Pushkaraj/Srikumar 5 4 1 9
5 Mohan/Lekha 5 1 4 4
6 Mathew/Saju 5 1 4 2

Red Tier
In the Red Tier, only the semifinals and finals of the category were played this week as all the Elimination Round matches had been played the previous Friday and the quarterfinalists had been decided.
At the end of the day, Shyam and Prasad had taken the top honors with an overwhelming two-set 21-13, 21-9 victory over Unnikrishan and Ashlin in the championship finals.
Earlier, in the semifinals, Unnikrishan and Ashlin found the going just a little tough when they took on Bharani and Santhosh for a 21-16, 21-17 victory for a place in the championship finals.
In the other semifinal, Shyam and Prasad faced no difficulty in thrashing Sajith and Nanda 21-12 in the first set before taking their foot off the accelerator for a 21-16 victory.
In the quarter finals, Unnikrishan and Ashlin had overcome Jimmy and Sudhakar 21-15, 19-21, 21-18 while Bharani and Santhosh beat Rashid and Ajay 16-21, 21-14, 21-17, Shyam and tamed Tom and Oommen 21-14, 17-21, 21-17 and Sajith and Nanda completed the lineup for the semifinals with a close 21-19, 18-21, 21-18 victory over Aravind and Ronnie.
Green/ Yellow Tier
Pramod and Shaina, w2ho finished on top of the standings of the Elimination Round in the combined Green/Yellow Tier with 6 wins, 1 loss and 18 points, took their excellent game into the championship final where they overcame some tough resistance from Sai and Rani before scoring a 21-12, 20-22, 21-18 victory to claim the crown in this category.

Earlier, in the semifinals, Pramod and Shaina showed that they were in a class of their own when they cruised past Clara and Ainsley 21-9, 21-11 in a one-sided game to set up a title clash with Sai and Rani who were made for every point by Ashir and Sayooj before they could win 21-14, 22-23, 21-19.
This category also saw action in the Elimination Round when the day’s clashes started as two matches remained to be played to determine the final standings in order to determine the semifinals lineup.
In these matches, Ashir and Sayooj found the going to their liking as they hammered Clara and Ainsley 21-6, 21-16 while Pramod and Shaina could not be stopped from routing Raj and Satish 21-9, 21-15.
After the completion of the Elimination Round, Pramod and Shaina were seen topping this category with 6 wins and 1 loss in their 7 matches for 18 points while Ashir and Sayooj were placed second with 5 wins, 2 losses and 15 points, Sair Krishna and Rani third with 5 wins, 2 losses and 14 points while Clara and Ainsley completed the semifinals lineup with 4 wins, 3 losses and 11 points.
Raj and Satish also had 4 wins, 3 losses and 11points but were unable to make semifinals when rules of the tournament were implemented to break the tie.

Elimination Standings
Green/Yellow
Rank Name P W L Pts
1 Pramod/ Shaina 7 6 1 18
3 Sai Krishna/ Rani 7 5 2 14
2 Ashir/ Sayooj 7 5 2 15
4 Clara/ Ainsley 7 4 3 11
5 Raj / Satish 7 4 3 11
6 Danish/ Liz 7 2 5 7
7 Numan/ Steeve 7 2 5 6
8 Prince /Praveen 7 0 7 2

Final Results
Blue Tier
Champions - Faheem /Noor
Runners-up - Pushkaraj/Srikumar
Red Tier
Champions - Shyam/Prasad
Runners-up - Unnikhrishan/Ashlin
Green/Yellow Tier
Champions - Pramod/Shaina
Runners-up - Sai/Rani
With the end of this tournament, it concludes another successful IBAK tournament albeit with a smaller participation because a number of the IBAK members are out of the country due to the summer break in all the schools.

IBAK, however, plans to continue providing the members who are still in the country with tournaments to keep them fit and also a venue to bring the IBAK families closer.
With this in mind, the organizers are already planning a one-day event but there will be no games on the coming Friday, July 15,2011.The organizers are, however, hopeful that they can arrange the tournament on July 22,2011 although the program has not been finalized and details have still to be worked out.
For details on all the programs of IBAK, inquiries can be sent to ibakchozhan@gmail.com