Sport - Badminton   

Revised draw tough on Abhinn, Nikhil

BANGALORE July 19. The draw for the Q I World badminton championship which gets underway in Birmingham, hasn't been too kind for the Indian men players and it pits Abhinn Shyam Gupta against the third seed Taufik Hidayat and Nikhil Kanetkar against a former champion Peter Rasmussen of Denmark, in the first round.

The draw in fact was done all over again after the one made on Friday had quite a few players from the same countries competing against each other in the early rounds, which was against IBF rules. The IBF, which later apologised for the lapse, blamed it on the "computer error'' and ordered a re-draw.

As per the first draw, Abhinn Shyam Gupta was to face Spain's Sergio Llopis and Nikhil Kanetkar had lowly Sam Smith of Canada as his opening round rival.

Things were, however, bright for the two Indian girls Aparna Popat and Trupti Murgunde. The National champion Aparna meets Wan Ting Ling of Hong Kong in the first round — Aparna has a 2-1 record against her rival — while Trupti, who made it the teams a last minute inclusion, plays Dolores Marco of Spain.

In doubles, Jaseel P. Ismail and Jaison Xavier take on the ninth-seeded Japanese pair Tadashi Ohtsuka and Keita Masuda, while the other Indian pari V. Diju and Sanave Thomas take on Thai duo Sudket Prapakamol and Patpol Ngernsrisuk. In the women's doubles, Shruti Kurien and Jwala Gutta face off against Johanna Persson and Ellin Bergblom.

"One need not be disheartened by the change in the draw and I want both Nikhil and Abhinn Shyam to go out and play their game. Top stars who they are up against could be susceptible in the early rounds'', said the Indian chief coach, U. Vimal Kumar.

Vimal felt that the training had gone on well for the past one week and all players are in the best of physical condition. He also disclosed that the team underwent a drug test at SAI (south) Centre here today.

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