India should dominate depleted championship

India should dominate the championship in all segments, as the other participating countries — Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives — lack quality players. The only shuttlers who can give the hosts a run for their money are the much-improved Sri Lankans, T Edirisinghe and MS Fernando.

Jusha pull out:The Indian women’s team received another jolt as top seed Manjusha Kanwar pulled out of the tournament. The withdrawals of Aparna Popat and Manjusha necessitated the inclusion of Olympian PVV Lakshmi and Ch Deepthi in the team. Junior national champion BR Meenakshi is given the top seed.

Meanwhile, Railways’ shuttlers Amrish Shinde and Mayur Ghatnekar, who were in the Indian doubles team, would not able to take part in the tournament as they been suspended for six months by the Railway Sports Control Board.

Badminton Association of India (BAI) joint secretary Punniah Choudary said apart from these two players, Roy Mathew, Mangesh Palekar and Harish Chand were also suspended. The reasons were not forthcoming.

“We do not know the exact reason. Only the Railway Sports Control Board can give the right answer,” he added.

Former National runners-up Rajiv Bagga (Maharasthra), Thomas Kurian (Kerala), Anuj Gupta (Gujarat) have qualified for the men’s singles main draw. In the women’s singles, Sampada Shetty made it to the main draw.

Bhushan Akut/Vijay Lancy, Anuj Gupta/Thomas Kurian in men’s doubles and PVV Lakshmi/Vidhayadhar in the mixed doubles have qualified for the main draw.

Meanwhile, the Rs 4-lakh prize money tournament to be held at Patna from Dec 16-19 has been postponed. In its place, an All India major ranking tournament with as much prize money will be held at Pune (Maharashtra) from Jan 1-3, 2000.

The Indian team:
Men’s singles:Pullela Gopichand, Sachin Ratti, Siddharth Jain, B Kiran Kumar, Chetan Anand, Ajit Wijetilak, Vijay Lancy, Abhisheik Bakshi

Men’s doubles:Jaseel Ismail/Vincent Lobo, Marcos Bristo/Vijaydeep Singh, Rajeev Bagga/U Vinod Kumar

Women’s singles:BR Meenakshi, T Murgunde, Divya Ramesh, G Jawla, Parul Priyadarshini, Ketaki Thakkar, Ch Deepthi, PVV Lakshmi

Women’s doubles:PVV Lakshmi/Archana Deodhar, Shruti S Kurien/G Jwala, Ketaki Thakkar/T Murgunde

SEEDINGS: Men’s singles: 1.P Gopichand, 2.Sadhin Ratti, 3.Kiran Kumar, 4.Ajit Wijetilak.

Women: 1.Meenakshi, 2.Divya Ramesh, 3.Parul Priyadarshini, 4.T Murgunde.

Men’s doubles: 1.Jaseel P Ismail/ Vincent Lobo, 2.Vijaydeep Singh/ Marcos Bristo.

Women’s doubles: 1.PVV Lakshmi/ Archana Deodhar, 2.Kethiki Thakkar/ T Murgunde.

Mixed doubles: 1.U Vinod Kumar/Meenakshi, 2.Archana Deodhar/ Vincent Lobo.