Bhattacharjee shocked

PUNE, Jan 5: Seeded players finally found their match in their lesser-known counterparts as third seeded Abhinn Shyam Gupta of Air-India rem...

PUNE, Jan 5: Seeded players finally found their match in their lesser-known counterparts as third seeded Abhinn Shyam Gupta of Air-India remained the only unscathed seed to make it to the final of the men8217;s section in the IVth Late VV Natu Memorial badminton championships at the WIE Sports complex here today.

In his summit clash, he faces unseeded Sachin Ratti, who disposed off giant-killer8217;, 20-year-old, Vincent Lobo Railways 15-10, 15-3.

However, the major casualty of the day was in the men8217;s quarter-finals, where unseeded Vincent who is playing after a one-and-a-half month lay-off, blanked the 18-year-old 15-11, 15-4. Earlier, Sachin knocked out teammate and No 4 seed Shrikant Bakshi in another one-sided encounter which saw Sachin assert command throughout.

The disstaff section had a smooth ride as No 1 Manjusha Kanwar carved out an effortless 30 minute 11-5, 11-2 win over No 4 Nirmala Kotnis while, third seed Larissa Sadarangani A-I sprang a surprise putting out No 2 seed Pooja Parikh Railways 11-8, 11-7 who earlier in the day struggled past Sampada Shettye A-I in three games lasting 41 minutes.

The men8217;s semis were of a contrasting nature with The Deepankar Bhattacharjee-Abhinn encounter being stretched to its fullest, before half-paced Deepankar bowed out after a 82-minute marathon duel. Deepankar was off to a flyer, winning the first 15-12, purely on the aggressive stance he adopted but failed to break Abhinn8217;s defences in the next as the shuttler from Allahabad held up brilliantly and lost 9-15, pushing the game into the decider.

The game devoid of action, was fought on toss-return8217; sequences and looked like a practice session. Long rallies 8212; with one literally crossing the count limit formed the basis of the game which eventually was won by Abhinn to record his second win against Deepankar in his career.

Results

Men: Singles SFs: Abninshyam Gupta A-I bt Deepankar Bhattacharjee Asm 12-15, 15-9, 15-8; Sachin Ratti Rlys bt Vincent Lobo Rlys 15-10, 15-3.

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QFs: Deepankar Bhattacharjee Asm bt Anuj Gupta Guj 18-17, 15-12; Abhinshyam Gupta A-I bt Ajit Wijetilak Karn 15-4, 18-15; Sachin Ratti Rlys bt Srikant Bakshi Rlys 15-13, 17-15; Vincent Lobo Rlys bt Nikhil Kanetkar A-I 15-11, 15-4.

Doubles QFs: George Thomas-Markosebriston Ker bt Amrish Shinde-Bhushan Akut Mah 15-11, 9-15, 15-9; Vincent Lobo-Sachin Ratti Rlys bt Ajay Kanwar-Yoginder singh Del 15-12, 15-6; Jaseel Ismail-Vijaydeep singh Ker bt Hemant Hardikar-Mayur Tawade Mah 15-7, 17-14; Rajeev Bagga-Vinod Kumar Maha bt Mangirish Palekar-Harish Chander Rlys 15-3, 15-6.

Women: Singles SFs: Manjusha Kanwar Del bt Nirmals Kotnis A-I 11-5, 11-2; Larissa Sadarangani A-I bt Puuja parekh Rlys 11-8, 11-7.

QFs: Manjusha Kanwar Del bt Nazneen Karimi Mah 11-1, 11-4; Nirmala Kotnis A-I bt CH Deepti Rlys 12-9, 11-2; Larissa Sadarangani A-I bt Divya Ramesh A-I 11-9, 11-4, Pooja Parekh Rlys bt Sampada Shetaye A-I 11-5, 3-11, 11-6.

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Doubles SFs: Larissa Sadarangani-Pooja Parekh A-I bt BR Meenakshi-Madhavi Kashikar Rlys 15-3, 15-6; Archana Deodhar-Manjusha Kanwar Mah bt Firoza Batliwal-Nazneen Karici Mah 15-4, 15-11.

QFs: Meenakashi-Madhavikashikar Rlys bt Swati Moghe-Jesal Shah Guj 15-3, 15-9; Larissa Sadarangani-Pooja Parekh A-I bt Kirti Kadam-Glory Xavier Mah 15-3, 15-7; Archana Deodhar-Manjusha Kanwar Mah bt Nirmals Kotnis-Sampada Shetye A-I 15-8, 15-10; Firoza Batliwala-Nazneen Karimi Mah bt Shalaka Damle-CH Deepti 7-15, 15-9, 15-7.