The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : PSPB teams enter semifinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 01, 2005

Sport

Sport - Badminton

PSPB teams enter semifinals

By S. Sabanayakan

JAMSHEDPUR, JAN. 31. The 60th inter-zonal and 69th senior National badminton championship got off to a flying start here at the Mohun Ahuja Stadium on Monday with PSPB, the favourites, cantering through to the semifinals of the men's and women's team events. Yet, there was some disappointing news on the individual front, with Pullela Gopichand and Manjusha Konwar pulling out.

Gopichand, who was expected to assist PSPB in the men's team championship for the Rahimtoola Cup, had to stay back in Hyderabad owing to his mother's illness. Manjusha, who is a regular at the Nationals, could not make it this time owing to medical reasons. Meanwhile, Railways' Sachin Rathi, A. Pridhvi and Himanshu Thakkar were not allowed to play by their employer on disciplinary grounds. The three either absented from the preparatory camp or gave flimsy reasons for delay in reaching New Delhi for the camp.

Fielding players like Arvind Bhat and B. Chetan Anand, the PSPB men crushed Assam 3-0 to earn a meeting with Maharashtra, which beat Uttar Pradesh 3-2.

In the other quarterfinals, Kerala humbled Bank Sports Board 3-0 to set up a clash with Railways. The latter defeated Chandigarh by an identical margin.

Aparna Popat, Shruthi Kurian and Jwala Gutta helped PSPB women defeat Railways 3-0 in the Chadha Cup. PSPB will next meet Maharashtra, a 3-1 victor over Bengal. Haryana's absence gave Kerala a place in the last four where it will meet Assam. The North Eastern state outplayed LIC 2-0.

The semifinals are slated for Tuesday morning and the team finals will be played in the afternoon.

The results: Team championship (quarterfinals): Men: Petroleum bt Assam 3-0 (A. Bhat bt B. Bora 15-5, 15-11; B. Chetan Anand bt P. Deka 15-11, 15-3; Rupesh Kumar & V. Diju bt A. Dutta & A. Chetia 15-1, 15-3); Maharashtra bt Uttar Pradesh 3-2 (Anand Pawar lost to Utsav Mishra 13-15, 15-10, 5-15; Rutuparna Kulkarni lost to Ravinder Singh 4-15, 1-15; M. Ghatnekar & A. Shine bt S. Saxena & U. Mishra 15-8, 17-16; Nishad Dravid bt A. Agarwal 15-7, 15-1; Pawar & Dravid bt Singh & M. Gupta 15-0, 15-2); Kerala bt Bank Sports Board 3-0 (K.A. Anish bt A. Naimpally 15-13, 15-7; T. Kurian bt D. Guruprasad 15-3, 15-3; S. Thomas & G. Thomas bt A. Poorvaih & K.P. Vasanthkumar 15-6, 15-2); Railways bt Chandigarh 3-0 (A. Baidya bt Vikash Kundu 15-3, 15-2; H. Duggal bt Pawan Malik 15-4, 15-3; V. Singh & M. Palekar bt A. Sethi & Pankaj 15-2, 15-6).

Women: Petroleum bt Railways 2-0 (A. Popat bt Parul Rawat 11-5, 11-2; J. Gutta & S. Kurian bt D. Nair & A. Ohlan 15-7, 15-1); Maharashtra bt Bengal 2-1 (G. Kotchak bt Shampa Saha 11-5, 11-5; A. Deodhar & G. Kotchak lost to T. Nandi & A. Mukherjee 15-10, 9-15, 11-15; S. More bt A. Mukherjee 11-1, 11-5); Kerala w/o Haryana; Assam bt LIC 2-0 (B. Basumatary bt L. Dhapre 11-0, 11-6; Oli Deka & Basumatary bt Dhapre & K. Dixit 15-1, 15-3).

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