Badminton: Prime Star, Victor club emerge champions

Imam Adi Kusuma (left) and Tanisha Crasto during the final of the Shuttle Time Dubai Club Badminton Championships on Friday.

Prime Star, studded with former Indonesia ranked players and upcoming UAE-based teenagers, claimed the second Shuttle Time Dubai Club Badminton Championship at Dubai Sports World.
The side court areas of the six-hova surface facility at the Dubai World Trade Centre was as usual packed with wildly cheering team supporters, Friday night.
In the rather one-sided A category title round, Prime Star, backed by their experienced academy coaches and the youngsters here coasted to a 5-0 whitewash of Team Yonex.
The summit clash of the tier two championship witnessed Team Victor B edge NSNL-SD 'B' 3-2 in a thriller that went the full distance.
Prime Star's young coach-cum-player and former Indonesian junior number two - Iman Adi Kusuma - inspired his partner Tanisha Crasto, the undisputed age group champion in the UAE, to a 3-1 victory in the opening mixed doubles match.
After rattling their opponents in the first set, Manoj Karthikeyan and long time badminton player here Vidya Maghnani, were able to keep Kusuma and Tanisha engaged in long rallies but they eventually caved in to the pressure exerted at the net and the quick directional changes to the baseline by the opponents.
"The first two sets were not as easy as it looks score wise. I was able to focus and come into the match fully in the third and Tanisha started to get some winners at the net," Kusuma told Khaleej Times.
"Kusuma sir and I clicked towards the end of the second set and in the third our movements were far smoother," said Tanisha.
Jenalyn and Abu Dhabi-based Amritha Kuttikrishnan stretched their women's doubles tie against Tanisha and Sarah Caraig to four sets before bowing out 1-3 to trail Prime Star 0-2 in the overall match standings.
Kusuma got a walkover to give Prime Star in the third fixture - men's singles - an unassailable 3-0 lead in the final. Later veteran Indonesian coaches Alamsyah and Fayani Rianto were too good against Dinesh Nair and James Varghese in the first of the men's doubles encounter. The evening's dominance was given the final seal by upcoming youngster Abdulla Shaheer, backed brilliantly by the great disguised skills of another coach, Muhammad Asiking as the Prime Star duo raced to a straight set (3-0) verdict over Rajesh CK and Manoj Karthikeyan.