Ashutosh leaves Anand panting

MUMBAI, August 25: Ashutosh Pant of UP claimed his third seed in as many days as the 12-year-old reached his maiden singles final in the ...

MUMBAI, August 25: Ashutosh Pant of UP claimed his third seed in as many days as the 12-year-old reached his maiden singles final in the Junior Grand Prix Badminton tournament at the Dadoji Konddeo Stadium here today.

In a rousing encounter, which had the spectators cheering every point, irrespective of the player, unseeded Pant won 15-10, 8-15, 17-16.

He will meet T Dinesh, the left-handed fourth seed from Andhra who stylishly disposed off Rohit Sadani, the seventh seed.

Earlier in the day, unseeded Trupti Murgunde burst the Jwala Gutta bubble. Jwala, the top seed in both the under-19 and under-16 sections, lost 3-11, 8-11 to Trupti Murgunde, the Pune girl who has joined Air-India.

But Ashutosh-Anand was the match of the evening. Anand, the stylish right-hander, who other than lacking in inches and power, has virtually a flawless game, faced an opponent who plays a robust game 8212; incredible stamina and amazing retrieving powers.

The match had everything 8212; plenty of passion, crowd support from eachcamp and plenty of arguments with the chair umpire.

The players were on even keel in the first two games. Ashutosh used long rallies to tire out Anand and win the game, but the latter came back strongly in the second. In the third, Ashutosh smashed back everything. As Anand served, Ashutosh smashed it back to his backhand and won points easily but the latter did not give up easily. And in the final moments of the match when each player was finding a purple patch to win a few points in a stretch, Ashutosh found the right on when down 15-16. A drop landed inside Anand8217;s court and Ashutosh raised his fist to signal his entry into the final.

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Dinesh had no trouble in defeating Rohit. The stylish left-hander used his racquet like a scalpel, deflecting a return and flicking from the back court. He seemed to have only one problem 8212; controlling his temperament when the things are not going his way.

Results

Boys Under-19 singles, semi-finals: Chetan Anand Air-India bt Mitesh Hazarnis Railways15-2, 15-13; Arup Baidya Railways bt Abhishek Bakshi Air-India 15-6, 15-7. Doubles: Mitesh Hazarnis-V Diju Railways bt Chetan Anand-A Prithvi Air-India 15-5, 15-3; Abhishek Bakshi Air-India-Anup Shridhar Kar bt Sandeep Luiz-PV Sajith Ker 15-3, 15-4.

Under-16 singles:Amar Mohite Mah bt Rohan Castelino Kar 15-8, 15-12; Nishad Dravid mah bt Ajit Phatak Mah 6-15, 15-7, 15-10.

Under-13 semi-finals:T Dinesh AP bt Rohit Sadani mah 15-12, 15-13; Ashutosh Pant UP bt Anand Pawar mah 15-10, 8-15, 17-16.

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Doubles:Anshuman Hazarika Asm-Anand Pawar Mah bt Madhur Prakash-Ashutosh Pant UP 15-5, 15-8.

Under-10:MD Anup Kiran Kar bt Pratik Patel Guj 15-3, 10-15, 15-10; Parin Chopra Mah bt RMV Gurusaidatta AP 15-8, 15-2.

Girls Under-19 singles:Trupti Murgunde Air-India bt Jwala Gutta AP 11-3, 11-8; Divya Ramesh kar bt Shruti Kurien AP 11-8, 11-5. Doubles: Manasi Marathe-Ruma Rane bt Sharada-Jwala AP w/o; Dhanya Nair-ManasiBhave mah bt Meghana Pawaskar-Gayatri Kochar 15-10, 15-10.

Under-16 singles: Jwala G bt Nikita Hurkadli mah 11-4, 11-5; Aditi Biswas Kar bt Shalini Prakash kar 11-3, 11-7.

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Under-13 Singles:Aditi Mutatkar mah bt Sayali Gokhale mah 11-2, 11-3; Riddhi Pajwani mah bt Aparna Balan AP 11-5, 11-8. Doubles:

Shipi Kankane-Sayali Gokhale mah bt Krishti Das-Rini Hazarika Mah 15-13, 3-15, 15-7; Aditi Mutatkar-Shipra Ghoshray Mah bt Shweta Khare-Riddhi Pajwani Mah 15-6, 15-11.

Under-10 singles:Vardha Dixit mah bt Shweta Khare Mah 11-6, 11-9; Mudra Dhainje Mah bt Saini Nerwal AP 11-2, 11-0.