Gopi, Aparna reduce finals to no contest

Bangalore, Aug 11: Pullela Gopi Chand and Aparna Popat lifted the singles trophies in the fifth BPL All-India Badminton Tournament at the...

Bangalore, Aug 11: Pullela Gopi Chand and Aparna Popat lifted the singles trophies in the fifth BPL All-India Badminton Tournament at the K Raheja Stadium with ruthlessly one-sided victories. They proved yet again that their closest Indian competitors are far behind.

The crowd was yet to settle when Aparna won the first game against Manjusha Kanwar. She controlled the play from the centre of the court while running her opponent ragged from one side of her court to the other and mixing deep forehands with delicate drops. She finished the first game 11-1.

She then ran up a 4-0 lead before Manjusha made her presence felt by winning two points in a row. She could manage only one more. Aparna blitzed through the remainder of the match, closing out 11-3.

Aparna8217;s demolition work had taken 26 minutes. Gopi Chand took four minutes more.

Seven points in a row and Sachin Ratti, Gopi Chand8217;s hapless opponent, was shaking his head in disbelief. At 13-4, Gopi Chand seemed to relax, and Ratti took advantage. Toolittle, too late. The Indian Oil Corporation player got the first game 15-8.

And then, mid-way through the second, Ratti was battling not to save the match, but to get a point on board. Gopi Chand had run up a 8-0 lead. And soon it was game, match and title to Gopi Chand at 15-8, 15-3.

TEAM FOR ABC: P Gopi Chand, Aparna Popat and Nikhil Kanetkar all IOC are among the players selected to represent the country at the Senior Asian Badminton Championships SABC to be held in Kuala Lumpur from September 15-19, Prakash Padukone, executive president, BAI, said.

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Other members of the team include Sachin Ratti Rly, Abhinn Shyam Gupta AI, Siddarth Jain ONGC, Manjusha Kanwar IOC and B R Meenakshi Kar.The European circuit, comprising the Dutch Open Sept 2-Oct 3, German Open Oct 6-Oct 10 and Danish Open Oct 13-17, will be represented by Gopi Chand, Kanetkar, Ratti, Gupta, Popat and Meenakshi.

Popat and Kanetkar would play in the US Open starting from September 8-12.Ratti, Gupta, Ajit Wijitilek,Manjusha and Meenakshi would participate in the pre-Olympics from September 1-5, Padukone added.

BAI peeved with gopi8217;s non-inclusion

The Badminton Association of India BAI alleged that the name of National champion P Gopi Chand was excluded for the Arjuna Award due to political interference.

In a signed statement, BAI executive president Prakash Padukone said it is reliably learnt that inspite of Gopi Chand8217;s name being recommended by the special committee for Arjuna Awards, his name got excluded due to political interference. A group of politicians had pressed for the nomination of a player from Kerala for the award, whose name had not not been recommended by the BAI.

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He pointed out that Gopi Chand had reached the finals of Grand Prix international event in Delhi in February 1997 and had been one of the leading international players for the last three years, a criterion for selecting for the award. The Government of India should include his name in the list as his name had been recommendedby the BAI for the past two years 8220;on the basis of his national and international tournament performances8221;.