Gopi Chand too good for Abhinn

By Rakesh Rao

JAIPUR, FEB. 6. P. Gopi Chand's struggle with the conditions and shuttles of lesser- quality continued. But he did not let these `elements' stand in the way of his title campaign.

The genial giant's none-too-impressive display was still good enough to demolish Abhinn Shyam Gupta in straight games. He will face third seed Siddarth Jain in the men's final of the NTPC National badminton championship here.

On a day marked by some disappointing performances, limited thrills and expected results at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium court, three-time holder Aparna Popat and four-time champion Manjusha Kanwar set up an intriguing final clash with authoritative victories.

Later, in the final match of the evening, the evergreen Madhumita Bisht added another National title when she claimed the mixed doubles crown in the company of Vincent Lobo. This pair knocked out top seeds Markose Bristow and B.R. Meenakshi in straight games.

Aparna raced away to a 11-3, 11-3 victory over Divya Ramesh in just 23 minutes before Manjusha took a minute longer to tame doubles partner and last year's finalist, B.R. Meenakshi 11- 5, 11-6.

Gopi controlled the net better and finished off many short rallies with power and precise placements, leaving Abhinn stretching in vain. If the eventual scoreline looks somewhat respectable, it was due to the streak of four negative points given by Gopi after failing to cash in on the first game-point. In the second game, too, Gopi gave away four straight points to let Abhinn make it 5-9 before going on to win seven of the last eight points.

The other semifinal proved the biggest disappointment of the evening. Chetan Anand, seeded five, was expected to produce some of Monday's magic against Siddharth Jain but he let everyone down. After Chetan's fighting victory over second seed Sachin Ratti in the quarterfinals, his display today was anti- climatic. After some early promise, the match turned hopelessly one-sided.

Frequent change of serves, long rallies and gritty selection of strokes saw the score level at seven even after 30 minutes of match-time. But suddenly, Chetan squandered seven straight points, majority of them negative, to face game-point. Still, the youngster saved four game-points and made it 10-14 before Jain took the first game in 37 minutes.

Much was expected in the second game but it proved a damp squib. In a mere 11 minutes, Chetan surrendered the game more than Jain coming up with something stupendous.

The women's semifinals, too, were lop-sided. After Divya took the first three points of the match, it was Aparna all the way. Aparna, still not moving as well as expected, broke away from 2-3 to close the game without a break. In the second game, a quick 5- 0 lead signalled the beginning of the end. Divya did manage three points but Aparna was not to be denied an easy passage into the final.

Manjusha, who earlier in the day failed in the title- defence of mixed doubles in the company of Jaseel P. Ismail and also lost in the women's doubles semifinals, did not allow Meenakshi to settle down and gained early control.

Having beaten Meenakshi in all the odd-numbered clashes leading up to their fifth encounter today, Manjusha knew what she had to do against her younger rival. She kept Meenakshi moving and played a variety of strokes. She jumped to a 7-2 lead in the first game and 6-2 in the second to keep the pressure on Meenakshi.

On her part, Meenakshi gained from Manjusha's spate of mistakes midway through the second game. Meenakshi seemed to be getting her confidence back when she closed the gap to 6-8 but the Manjusha's experience finally made the decisive difference.

In Wednesday's men's doubles final, defending champion Markose Bristow and Vijaydeep Singh will be up against the men they dethroned last year, Jaseel P. Ismail and Vincent Lobo. The women's doubles final will be between the leading pair of Madhumita Bisht-P.V.V. Laxmi and G. Jwala-Shruti Kurien combination.

The results:

Men's singles (semifinals): P. Gopi Chand (PSCB) bt Abhinn Shyam Gupta (PSCB) 15-10, 15-5; Siddharth Jain (PSCB) bt Chetan Anand (PSCB) 15-10, 15-2.

Women's singles (semifinals): Aparna Popat (PSCB) bt Divya Ramesh (BAI) 11-3, 11-3; Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) bt B.R. Meenakshi (Kar) 11-5, 11-6.

Men's doubles (semifinals): Markose Bristow (PSCB)/Vijaydeep Singh (Rlys) bt Sanave Thomas/V. Diju (Ker) 15-4, 15-8; Jaseel P. Ismail/Vincent Lobo (PSCB) bt George Thomas/Deepak Amarnath 15-4, 12-15, 15-9. Quarterfinals: Bristow/Vijaydeep bt Milind Ghate/Rajeev Bagga (Mah) 15-6, 15-6; Sanave Thomas/Diju bt Srikant Bakshi/Yoginer Singh (Rlys) 15-10, 15-3; George Thomas/Deepak Amarnath bt Abhishek Bakshi/Anup Sridhar (AI) 15- 11, 15-13; Lobo/Ismail bt Jaison Xavier/Thomas Kurien (Ker) 15-4, 15-3.

Women's doubles (semifinals): P.V.V. Laxmi (PSCB)/Madhumita Bisht (Rlys) bt Manju S. George/Krishna Hazarika (Del) 15-3, 15-8; G. Jwala/Shruti Kurien (AP) bt B.R. Meenakshi (Kar)/Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) 13-15, 15-11, 15-9.

Mixed doubles (final): Vincent Lobo (PSCB)/Madhumita Bisht (Rlys) bt Markose Bristow (PSCB)/B.R. Meenakshi (Kar) 15-5, 15-6. Semifinals: Bristow/Meenakshi bt Jaseel P. Ismail/Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) 15-10, 15-7; Lobo/Madhumita bt J.B.S. Vidyadhar (Rlys)/G. Jwala (AP) 17-14, 15-6.

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