Abhinn Shyam Gupta wins
French Open badminton

India's Abhinn Shyam Gupta won the $10,000 French Open badminton championships, in Paris, capping a wonderful fortnight for India in the shuttle game.

Gupta's 7-1, 7-3, 7-3 victory over Germany's Xie Yang Chun in the final on Sunday, comes only days after Pulella Gopichand won the All England badminton championship.

According to the Badminton Association of India, last year's winner Siddharth Jain lost in the semi-finals to Xie, a Chinese player settled in Germany, in a close match.

Gupta's best performance in an international event so far had been his runner-up finish in the Sydney Olympics test event in 1999. He had reached quarter-finals of the French Open the last two years, a BAI statement said.

Gupta, along with Gopichand, had played a stellar role in clinching the silver medal in the Team Championships in the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lampur in 1998. He also won all his three matches in heroic fashion to take India to the final rounds of the Thomas Cup during the preliminaries held in February last year.

The French Open has implemented the 7 points over 5 games format for the first time and it was considered difficult for Gupta, ranked 97 in the world, as he is basically a defensive player.