Wednesday, Jan 21, 2004
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Badminton
By Abhijit Sen Gupta
Saina Nehwal plays a return against Neha Makhwana. — Photo: K. Gajendran
HYDERABAD, JAN. 20. Sachin Ratti of Railways, the third seed, had to pull out his best to get the better of Nikhil Kanetkar of PSPB 17-16, 17-16 after an exhausting 78-minute battle in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals of the 68th senior National badminton championship, sponsored by IOC, at the KVBR indoor stadium here today. In the first game, Nikhil shot ahead 3-0 but Sachin levelled the scores 3-3. A keen tussle ensued and the game went neck and neck till 9-9. At this stage, Sachin netted three returns in succession to give Nikhil a 12-9 advantage. But the Railway player fought back and with Nikhil committing a few errors, the game went into extra points. Sachin's accuracy and consistency helped him get the vital point which decided the game. In the second game, Sachin piled up a 7-0 lead and seemed well on way to chalking up a straight games win. But suddenly things began to go wrong for him and Nikhil profited from Sachin's errors. And he put his serve into the net to provide Sachin a golden opportunity to finish off the match. Sachin grabbed the chance as he progressed to 14-10. But a visibly tired Sachin failed to deliver the knock-out punch and allowed Nikhil to creep back to 14-all. In extra points too, it was a close battle as the score read 16-16. At this crucial juncture, Sachin hit a smash past an outstretched Nikhil to settle the issue. In the women's category, Saina Nehwal, a promising player from Andhra Pradesh, was given a tough fight by the diminutive Neha Makwana of Railways in the pre-quarterfinals. Saina, figuring in her first senior National event, has humbled many reputed players in various tournaments in the last couple of years and many believe that she has the potential to be a National champion in the future. However, she had to work hard to get past a clever rival whose court-craft and agility remained a big worry for the talented AP girl. Saina's consistent all-round game enabled her to eventually win 11-9, 13-10.
Third round: Chetan Anand bt Manmeet Singh (Del) 15-1, 8-15, 15-1; Kulkarni bt U. Prakash (Kar) 15-6, 6-15, 15-8; Duggal bt Anish (Ker) 10-15, 15-5, 15-2; Vidyadhar bt Anuj Gupta (Guj) 15-10, 15-11; Castelino bt T. Dinesh (AP) 13-15, 15-11, 15-5; Utsav bt P. Bahatare (Mah) 15-7, 15-6; Prudhvi bt Thomas Kurien (PSPB) 15-9, 15-9; Ravinder bt Harish Kumar (Kar) 15-3, 15-2; Arvind Bhat bt Anand Pawar (Mah) 15-7, 15-5; Kanetkar bt P. Kashyap (AP) 15-4, 15-1; Sachin Ratti bt Jibi Verghese (Chat) 15-7, 15-3; Baidya bt N. Venkatesh (TN) 154, 15-9; Sridhar bt Guruprasad (PNB) 15-2, 15-6; Krishna bt M. Gatnekar (Rly) 15-11, 15-6; Abhinn Shyam bt A. Mehrotra (U.P.) 15-9, 15-2.
Women's singles pre-quarterfinals: Trupti Murugunde (Mah) bt Leena Dhapre (LIC) 11-8, 11-3; Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) bt Jwala Gutta (PSPB) 11-6, 11-7; Manjusha Kanwar (PSPB) bt Bibari Basumatary (Asm) 11-1, 11-5; B.R. Meenakshi (PSPB) bt Fathima Nazneen Mohd (Ker) 11-8, 11-1; Saina Nehwal (AP) bt Neha Makwana (Rly) 11-9, 13-10; Krishna Deka Raja (Asm) bt Ch. Deepthi (PSPB) 11-7, 11-3; Aparna Popat (PSPB) bt Sampada Gatnekar (Mah) 11-2, 11-1; Shruti Kurien (PSPB) bt Aditi Biswas (Ktk) 11-1, 11-1.
Third round: Trupti bt A. Mukherjee (WB) 11-1, 11-3; Leena bt P. Tiwari (Rly) 11-1, 11-13, 11-6; Jwala bt M. Vinayak (Kar) 11-1, 11-1; Aditi Mutatkar bt Oli Deka Raja (Asm) 11-8, 11-4; Manjusha bt Soumya (Raj) 11-4, 11-1; Bibari bt Poonam Walimbe (Mah) 11-8, 11-0; Fathima bt Sarada Govardhini (AP) 11-8, 11-5; Meenakshi bt P. Nagori (Rly) 11-5, 11-1; Saina bt Anjali Kalitha (Asm) 11-0, 11-1; Neha bt Isha Sharma (Chg) 11-1, 11-3; Deka Raja bt Aditi Pandit (Chat) 11-3, 11-8; Deepthi bt Jyothi Swarupa (AP) 11-1, 11-0; Sampada bt Nischitha (Kar) 11-6, 11-6; Aparna bt Rashmi Khedekar (MP) 11-0, 11-0; Aditi Biswas bt Aparna Balan (Ker) 11-1, 11-2; Shruti bt Barnali Raha (Rly) 11-8, 11-0.
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