New Delhi: PV Sindhu got the better of PC Thulasi (21-9, 21-10) as BPCL beat ONGC 2-0 in the Women's Team Championship in the 35th PSPB Inter Unit Badminton Tournament at the DDA Squash and Badminton Stadium, Siri Fort here on Monday.

In the doubles which was perhaps the most cheered match of the day PV Sindhu teamed up with Jwala Gutta to beat Ashwini Ponnappa and P C Thulasi (24-22, 21-15). In the other semi-finals IOCL beat EIL 2-0.

Meanwhile, after the initial rounds, the semi-finals in the men’s team championships saw keen contests. Team ONGC beat BPCL 3-0. However the score do not reflect the keenly contested singles. Playing for ONGC, national champion Saurabh Verma beat Aditya Prakash in a closely contested 3-set victory (15-21, 21-17, 21-15). Sai Praneeth beat Arvind Bhat also in a 3 setter (20-22, 21-18, 21-11). In the doubles, with the opponents retiring, ONGC won 3-0.

In the other Men’s semi-finals IOCL beat HPCL comfortably 3-0. Playing for IOCL, P Kashyap was in full flow when he beat Laa Talar (21-13, 21-13). In the other two matches K Srikanth beat Shubhankar Dey (21-19, 21-15) and in the doubles Arun Vishnu and Srikanth beat Shubhankar dey and Shyam Prasad (21-19, 21-14).

In the Veterans Team championships semi-finals, BPCL beat EIL 2-0, while GAIL prevailed over ONGC by the same margin. This contest saw the longest match of the tournament when Ajay Jindal and Kumarsen from GAIL beat Pradeep Kaul and Venugopal in an exciting three setter 22-20, 20-22, 21-19. The match lasted 52 minutes.

The final of the Team Championships in all the three categories is scheduled for 10 am tomorrow and with such talent on display exciting badminton is expected. The first two rounds of the Men’s singles and the Women singles will be played in the afternoon from 1 pm onwards.

After a crisp, entertaining opening ceremony, the tournament was inaugurated when the Chief Guest, Ram Singh played the first point with Veena Swarup, Director HR of Engineers India Limited, the lady behind the event.