The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Chetan gets top billing for Tata Open

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Badminton

Chetan gets top billing for Tata Open

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: The highest-ranked Indian men’s shuttler, Chetan Anand, heads a competitive singles field in the second Tata Open all-India badminton tournament.

Chetan, listed No. 14 in the International Badminton Federation’s rankings (June 25), heads the 32-player men’s draw which has attracted 150 entries.

The two-day qualifying rounds commence on Wednesday at the Cricket Club of India’s indoor courts to determine eight qualifiers, slated to join 24 direct entries among whom are the talented Aravind Bhat (World No. 27) and the tenacious J.B.S. Vidyadhar. The qualifying rounds are restricted to men’s singles and doubles.

P. Kashyap, Anand Pawar and Guru Sai Dutt are the other in-form players in the fray besides, Anup Sridhar, who can rattle any opponent on his day.

World No., 27 Aditi Mutatkar takes the top spot in the women’s singles and will brace herself for strong challenge from the likes of Sayali Gokhale, Neha Pandit and Gayatri Vartak.

Trupti Murgunde, not named among the seeded players, is another who could trouble Aditi.

Aparna Balan and Shruti Kurien head the women’s doubles draw, while Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas have been named the No. 1 pair in men’s doubles.

V. Diju will team up with Ashwini Ponappa, instead of regular partner Jwala Gutta, in mixed doubles.

The Rs. 5 lakh prize money tournament is organised by the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy and Yonex is named the official equipment supplier.

No Saina, Jwala

Saina Nehwal and Jwala are not taking part. “The Tata Open Badminton is the season’s first tournament, so presents an opportunity for players to gain competitive experience.

Performance in this event is one of the factors considered when selecting the India squads,” Prakash Padukone said at the launch on Tuesday.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport