Chetan focuses on Asian title

Chetan Anand is “not too concerned” about making it to Beijing anymore - he chooses rather to focus on the game...

Chetan Anand is “not too concerned” about making it to Beijing anymore — he chooses rather to focus on the game at hand. His target — like it is for Anup Sridhar, P Kashyap and Anand Pawar in the men’s section, and Saina Nehwal, Trupti Murgunde and Aditi Mutatkar in the women’s section — is the $125,000 Badminton Asia Championships.

The 24-nation championship, to be held in Johar Bahru, Malaysia, from April 15 to 20, is the final qualifying tournament before the Olympics. “I’ve gained confidence from how my games panned out during the India Open Gold GP. Although I lost the final, I won a lot of tough matches to get to there,” said Chetan, who went into the five-star Grand Prix with the Kenyan International under his belt, from Malaysia.

“But I’m not too concerned right now about booking a Beijing berth or not. My focus is going to be on how I handle matches here,” said Chetan, who faces Japanese Endo Hiroyuki in the first round on Wednesday.

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He concedes that Anup Sridhar — the highest-ranked Indian at No. 2 — has more chances of making the Beijing event. “I don’t know how many points I need, but Anup has better chances. But that doesn’t stop me from giving him a fight to the post,” said the No. 47 Hyderabadi.

But Anup’s chances really depend on how he does in his opener against seventh-seeded Sung Hwan Park of Korea, especially since he is still recovering from a heel injury sustained during the Swiss Open last month. With a strong men’s field in the event, which will also see world No.1 Lin Dan in action, Anup will depend on his previous experiences in the tournament — he lost to Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat in the final last year.

In the women’s section, Saina Nehwal will also be looking to book her Olympic berth . Seeded eighth, Saina begins her campaign against Malaysia’s Julia Pei Xian Wong. The dream, however, gets tougher for women’s doubles specialists Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurien, who desperately need a win to make it to the Olympics, especially since they couldn’t make the Poland Open in March due to cancellation of flights.

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