DAMMAM — Ancil Salahudeen and Sameer Poovalloor claimed the men's Premier Flight crown at the Federation Cup Invitational Doubles Badminton Tournament organized by Badminton Federation of Saudi Arabia (BFSA) at Al-Munirah Badminton Club, Aramco, here recently. Salahudeen and Poovalloor beat Fahad Khalid and Renin Wilson in a closely-fought match which went to three sets to clinch the title. Rajesh Nair and Venu Vasudevan beat Hassan Mohammed and Biju Mathew to win the championship final. More than 150 players from Riyadh and the Eastern Province took part in the event. The tournament was conducted in eight categories for players from beginner to professional level. BFSA President George Puthenmadhom congratulated the winners and runners-up and thanked the sponsors for their support. Adnan Y. Al-Othman, Recreation Services Advisor of Aramco, was instrumental in helping BFSA host the event at Al-Munirah courts. The major sponsors of the tournament were Sinmar, Hempel and Delmon. The tournament committee included: Sajan Babu, Meros Mathew, A.V. Mathew, Sameer Baikadi, Amanullah Khan, N. Lakshmaiah, Ashish Cherian, Ishaq Naseeruddin and Chacko John. Other results (finals): Flight 6B: Nihad Abbas and Aman Izhar beat Mustafa Noman Rashid and Farhan M. Abdul Qadir. Flight 6A: Manoj Chacko and Shanavas Kalam beat Shibu Sivadasan and Shanavas. Flight 5: Hashim Yoonus and Azim Peranickal beat Sijo Francis and Shiju Anandan. Flight 4: Varghese C. Antony and Presetyo Edi beat Mohammed Rahim and Santhosh K. Narayanan. Flight 3: Nawab Khan and Abdul Majeed beat Ibrahimkutty Shereef and Rajesh Kiral Kooloth. Flight 2: Faisal Saqaf and Mohammed Anas beat Akther Hussain and Farooque Ali. Flight 1: Devi Muldi and Suherman Sobana (no runner up).
