Bakshi finds chance to stop marauding Gopi Chand in final

Gopi Chand had to overcome a stubborn Sachin Ratti, another Railwayman, 9-15, 15-10, 15-5 in a 70-minute battle.

In the women’s section, former champion PVV Lakshmi accounted for No 2 seed Manjusha Kanwar 11-8, 0-11, 11-4, while top seed Aparna Popat was stretched by Neelima Chowdary before the former won 11-8, 13-11.

There were two upsets in men’s doubles as No 2 pair of George Thomas and Marcose Bristow bowed out in the quarter-finals to Bhushan Akut and Bakshi. But the latter failed cross the semi-final hurdle. Similarly,Railways’ Vinod Kumar and Roy Mathew downed No 3 Deepak Amarnath and Jaison Xavier but the former lost out in the semi-finals.

After leading 4-2 in the first game of the singles semi-final, Bakshi could not keep pace with Gupta’s ploy of long rally-game. Once Gupta levelled 4-4, things went out of Bakshi’s reach as the Air-India employee won comfortably.

But in the second, Bakshi, trailing by two points at 2-4, levelled and then changed gear to pick seven on the trot before conceding one. Gupta continued to rally and levelled at 13. But once service changed, Bakshi was able to pick the last two points to bring some sanity to his game.

As he admitted later, this gave the confidence and holding his nerves, Bakshi rode on the luck of some negative play by his opponent to run up a quick lead of 6-3, 10-3. Thereafter, Gupta found the going tough even as he picked two more points before Bakshi closed in.

In the other semi-final, down 2-3 at one time, Ratti converted Gopi Chand’s net dribble to his advantageto lead 8-6. Thereafter, it was Ratti all the way in the first game.

In the second, too, Gopi Chand failed to come into his groove until he went up 4-2. But he found Ratti pose a serious threat at 9-11. Gopi Chand just allowed him one more point before he shut out the challenge.

And in the third, the champion was too good as Ratti picked five points off him.

RESULTS

Men’s Singles (semi-finals): P Gopi Chand (AP) bt Sachin Ratti (Rly) 9-15, 15-10, 15-5; Srikant Bakshi (Rly) bt Abhinn Shyam Gupta (A-I) 10-15, 15-3, 15-9; Quarter-finals: Gopi Chand bt Mangresh Palekar (Rly) 15-1, 17-16; Ratti bt Madhur Kalia (Dli) 10-15, 15-13, 15-1; Gupta bt Ajit Wijetilak (Kar) 15-7, 15-9; Bakshi b Anuj Gupta (Guj) 15-6, 15-13.

Doubles (semi-finals): Jaseel P Ismail/Vincent Lobo (BAI) bt Vinod Kumar/Roy Mathew (Rly) 15-5, 9-15, 17-14; Rajeev Bagga/Vijaydeep Singh (BAI) bt Bhushan Akut/Srikant Bakshi 15-0, 15-4; Quarter-finals: JP Ismail/Vincent Lobo bt Harish Chander/OP Singh (Rly) 15-5,15-5; V Kumar/R Mathew bt Deepak Amarnath/Jaison Xavier (Ker) 15-3, 15-3; R Bagga/VD Singh bt Amrish Shinde/Mayur Ghatnekar (Rly) 10-15, 15-7, 15-6; B Akut/S Bakshi bt George Thomas/Markose Bristow (Ker) 15-3, 15-6.

Women’s Singles (semi-finals): Aparna Popat (Kar) bt Nileema Chowdary (AP) 11-8, 13-11; PVV Lakshmi (AP) bt Manjusha Kanwar (Mah) 11-8, 0-11, 11-4; Quarter-finals: Popat bt Nirmala Kotnis (A-I) 11-0, 11-2; N Chowdary bt BR Meenakshi (Rly) 11-3, 6-11, 11-9; PVV Lakshmi bt Sampada Shetty (A-I) 11-8, 9-11, 11-6; Kanwar bt Krishna Hazarika (Asm) 11-0, 11-1.

Doubles (semi-finals): Manjusha/Archana (Mah) bt Madhumita Bisht/N Chowdary (BAI) 15-12, 15-8; A Popat/Manju T Abraham bt Vinaya Shetty/BR Meenakshi 12-15, 15-11, 15-11; Quarter-finals: Manjusha/Archana bt KetkiThakkar/D Sweta (A-I) 15-4, 15-3; M Bisht/N Chowdary b S Shetty/Mathali Grande (A-I) 15-5, 15-7; V Shetty/Meenakshi bt PVV Lakshmi/G Sharda 15-12, 15-9; A Popat/MT Abraham bt K Hazarika/N Kotnis (Asm) 15-5,15-11.