The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Anand, Bhat in title round

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 18, 2004

Sport

Sport - Badminton

Anand, Bhat in title round

By Our Special Correspondent

JAMSHEDPUR, DEC. 17. Unseeded Nikhil Kanetkar's dream run in the J.R.D. Tata all-India senior prize money badminton tournament ended abruptly in the semifinals. Top seed and title favourite Chetan Anand recovered from a game down to post a 14-17, 15-7, 15-11 victory against the PSPB player at the Mohan Ahuja Stadium here on Friday.

Challenging the Andhra Pradesh star in the title round would be second seed Arvind Bhat of PSPB, who conquered the power play of another Andhra player, seventh seed J.B.S. Vidyadhar, 13-15, 15-9, 15-9, the game lasting an hour and 10 minutes.

The ladies' final would be fought between top seed Trupti Murgunde of PSPB and fourth seed B.R. Meenakshi also of PSPB. The title favourite stopped unseeded Aditi Biswas of Karnataka at 11-8, 11-4 while Meenakshi had a far easier outing against Krishna Deka Raja of Assam winning at 11-4, 11-8.

It was a contest between two touch artists, Anand and Kanetkar. In an absorbing match, the lead changed hands often before Anand prevailed after battling for an hour and 20 minutes. Usually a very consistent player, Anand's returns at times were erratic which enabled Kanetkar take the first game.

Kanetkar reeled off five points to race to a 7-2 lead in the second but Anand came back with some bold strokes to the flanks to go ahead 8-7 and wrap up the game at 15-7. Lacking in stamina, Kanetkar rarely smashed throughout the game. He concentrated on placing the bird and tried to move Anand around in the decider. Anand neutralised Kanetkar's 8-5 lead by taking five straight points to go 11-9 ahead from where he did not look back.

Vidyadhar's all-out attacking game unsettled the second seed Bhat but the 13-15 first game loss galvanised the tall and wiry player to raise his game. He judiciously mixed attack with tight defence and reaped a rich reward. Vidyadhar gave away too may negative points to make Bhat's job rather easy.

Meenakshi put herself in line for triple crown as she moved into the doubles and mixed doubles finals as well.

The results: Men: singles: semifinals: C. Anand (AP) bt N. Kanetkar (PSPB) 14-17, 15-7, 15-11; A. Bhat (PSPB) bt J.B.S. Vidyadhar (AP) 13-15, 15-9, 15-9. Doubles: semifinals: V. Diju & Jaseel P. Ismail (PSPB) bt A. Prithvi (Rly) & J.B.S. Vidyadhar (PSPB) 15-4, 15-3; Sanave Thomas & Rupesh Kumar (Ker) bt M. Hazarnis & J. George (Rly) 15-8, 15-12.

Women: singles: semifinals: Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) bt Aditi Biswas (Kar) 11-8, 11-4; B.R. Meenakshi (PSPB) bt Krishna Deka Raja (Asm) 11-4, 11-8. Doubles: semifinals: Shruti Kurian & Jwala Gutta (AP) bt Oli Deka & Krishna Deka Raja (Asm) 15-3, 15-5; C.H. Deepthi & B.R. Meenakshi (PSPB) bt Aparna Balan (Ker) & Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) 15-10, 15-8. Quarterfinals: Shruti & Jwala bt Merit & Miral George (Ker) 15-9, 15-4; Oli & Krishna bt Sarada Govardhani (AP) & Dhanya Nair (Rly) 15-12, 15-4; Aparna & Trupti bt Bipari Basumatary (Asm) & Aditi Biswas (Kar) 15-6, 15-4; Deepthi & Meenakshi bt T. Sowmya and Ashwini Choudhary (AP) 15-2, 15-10.

Mixed doubles: semifinals: B. Raha & M. Bahl (Rly) bt M. George (Ker) & Y. Dayal (TN) 15-10, 8-15, 15-8; B.R. Meenakshi & M. Bristow (PSPB) bt Aparna Balan & K.A. Anish (Ker) 15-7, 15-2. Quarterfinals: Merit & Dayal bt C.H. Deepthi & J. George (PSPB) 15-10, 15-7; Meenakshi & Bristow bt Dipti P. & T. Chandrasekhar (AP) 15-12, 15-4; Aparna & Anish w/o Parul Rawat & Bhanu Pratap (Rly).

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