The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Kanetkar makes last four

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 17, 2004

Sport

Sport - Badminton

Kanetkar makes last four

By Our Special Correspondent

JAMSHEDPUR, DEC. 16. The unseeded Nikhil Kanetkar of PSPB proved that form is temporary but class permanent in a telling manner en route to the men's singles semifinals of the J.R.D. Tata all-India senior prize money badminton tournament at the Mohan Ahuja Stadium here on Thursday.

The wiry southpaw ousted third seed Sachin Ratti of Railways in the pre-quarterfinals 15-11, 15-9 and downed sixth seed Anup Sridhar of PSPB in the quarterfinals 15-11, 15-4 for a meeting with top seed Chetan Anand in the last four stage.

In the bottom half, second seed Arvind Bhat of PSPB had a harrowing time against former National champion Abhinn Shyam Gupta of PSPB before coming through with a 11-15, 15-10, 15-7 verdict for a meeting with seventh seed J.B.S. Vidyadhar of Andhra Pradesh in the semifinals. Gupta, whose international ranking outweighs National ranking, accounted for eighth seed Hemant Duggal of Railways in the pre-quarterfinals.

There were a couple of upsets in the women's section as well with second seed Shruthi Kurian conceding her pre-quarterfinal match against Merit George of Kerala owing to right ankle injury sustained during the recently concluded Lucknow ranking meet. Merit, however, could not go far and lost to Assam's Krishna Deka Raja in the quarterfinals.

Unseeded Aditi Biswas of Karnataka upset third seed C.H. Deepthi of PSPB 11-2, 11-13, 11-6 for a meeting with top seed Trupti Murgunde of PSPB. The other semifinals will pit fourth seed B.R. Meenakshi against Krishna Deka Raja.

Kanetkar's court craft and deception proved too good against Ratti's power and stamina. Despite levelling the score at 10-10, Ratti failed to maintain the momentum as Kanetkar raised his game a notch or two higher to reel off four points to take the first game.

The contest which lasted one hour found Ratti going into early lead in the second game but Kanetkar caught up with him at 8-9 and did not look back thereafter. Kanetkar's ability to play the crucial points with self-assurance gave him the edge.

The results: Men: singles: quarterfinals: C. Anand (AP) bt T. Kurian (Ker) 4-15, 15-4, 15-4; N. Kanetkar (PSPB) bt Anup Sridhar (PSPB) 15-11, 15-4; J.B.S. Vidyadhar (AP) bt U. Mishra (UP) 15-8, 15-7; A. Bhat (PSPB) bt A.S. Gupta (PSPB) 11-15, 15-10, 15-7. Pre-quarterfinals: Anand bt M. Bahl (Rly) 15-7, 15-8; Kurian bt R. Kulkarni (Mah) 15-6, 15-1; Kanetkar bt S. Ratti (Rly) 15-11, 15-9; Sridhar bt A. Baidya (Rly) 8-15, 15-9, 15-5; Vidyadhar bt M. Palekar (Rly) 17-15, 15-10; Mishra bt A. Prithvi (Rly) 10-15, 15-9, 15-1; A.S. Gupta (PSPB) bt H. Duggal (Rly) 15-10, 15-5; Bhat bt C.M. Shashidhar (AP) 17-14, 15-10.

Doubles: quarterfinals: V. Diju & Jaseel P. Ismail (PSPB) bt M. Palekar & Vijaydeep Singh (Rly) 15-4, 15-8; A. Prithvi (Rly) & J.B.S. Vidyadhar (PSPB) bt K.A. Anish & Joy T. Antony (Ker) 15-7, 15-2; M. Hazarnis & J. George (Rly) bt M. Bristow & J. Xavier (Ker) 9-15, 15-7, 17-15; S. Thomas & R. Kumar (Ker) bt M. Ghatnekar & V. Khanvilkar (Mah) 15-3, 15-13. Pre-quarterfinals: Diju & Ismail bt K. Das & R. Choudhry (Jar) 15-2, 15-4; M. Palekar & Singh bt N. Venkatesh & Malik Jalal (TN) 10-15, 15-10, 15-4; Prithvi (Rly) & Vidyadhar bt Yuvaraj Dayal and Senthil Velan (TN) 15-6, 15-6; Anish & Antony bt Rajiv Goswami & A. Chetia (Asm) 15-10, 15-5; Hazarinis & George bt T. Dinesh & Jayan James (AP) 15-8, 15-12; Bristow & Xavier bt C. Anand & P. Saratchandra (AP) 15-8, 15-11; Ghatnekar & Khanvilkar 15-1, 15-8; Thomas & Kumar (Ker) bt N. Dravid & R. Naidu (AP) 15-1, 15-5.

Women: singles: quarterfinals: Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) bt Aparna Balan (Ker) 11-7, 11-1; Aditi Biswas (Kar) bt C.H. Deepti (PSPB) 11-2, 11-13, 11-6; B.R. Meenakshi (PSPB) bt Jwala Gutta (AP) 8-11, 11-6, 13-10; Krishna Deka Raja (Asm) bt Merit George (Ker) 11-6, 11-4. Pre-quarterfinals: Trupti bt B. Srilakshmi (AP) 12-13, 11-4, 11-1; Aparna bt Dipti Ranjan (Rly) 11-2, 11-3; C.H. Deepti bt S. Govardhani (AP) 1-11, 11-7, 11-0; Aditi bt Priyanka Sharaf (Chhatt) 11-8, 11-3; Jwala bt A. Ohlan (Rly) 11-3, 11-0; Meenakshi bt A. Mukherjee (Ben) 11-3, 11-1; Krishna bt B. Raha (Rly) 11-9, 11-2; Merit bt Shruthi Kurian (AP) 5-4 (latter conceded). First round: Merit bt Umarani Palit (Jar) 11-5, 11-3.

Doubles: pre-quarterfinals: Merit George & Miral George (Ker) bt Dipti Ranjan & Anita Ohlan (Rly) 15-9, 17-15; Oli Deka & K. Deka Raja (Asm) bt D. Priyadarshani & D. Shalini (AP) 15-2, 15-10; S. Govardhani (AP) & Dhanya Nair (Rly) 15-7, 15-8; B. Basumatary (Asm) & Aditi Biswas (Kar) bt B. Raha & A. Mukherjee (Ben) 15-7, 15-9; Aparna Balan (Ker) & T. Murgunde (PSPB) bt R. Hazarika & A. Deka (Asm) 15-2, 15-6; T. Sowmya & Ashwini Choudhary (AP) bt P. Rawat & R. Reddy (Rly) 10-15, 15-11, 15-13.

Mixed doubles: quarterfinals: B. Raha & M. Bahl (Rly) bt M. George & C. Valsan (Ker) 15-4, 17-15. Pre-quarterfinals: Merit George (Ker) & Yuvaraj Dayal (TN) bt Radhika Reddy & Ramesh Naidu (AP) 15-1, 15-6; B.R. Meenakshi & Markos Bristow (PSPB) bt Rimmy Hazarika & Rajiv Goswami (Asm) 15-6, 15-4; Parul Rawat & Bhanu Pratap (Rly) bt B. Talukdar (Asm) & Arjun Reddy (AP) 15-11, 15-10.

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