India wallop Botswana

KUALA LUMPUR, SEPT 10: It was easier than a sparring session with schoolboys for the Indian men, who thrashed the novices from Botswana 5...

KUALA LUMPUR, SEPT 10: It was easier than a sparring session with schoolboys for the Indian men, who thrashed the novices from Botswana 5-0. India will next play Sri Lanka tomorrow morning, Maldives on Saturday morning, and then against the top seeds in the group, Scotland, the same evening.

Gopi Chand dropped just one point in the first game and blanked Tebogo Ofentse in the second, while Kanetkar scored one of those rare love-and-love wins in an international, against E Kebairejang. Later, Abhinn Shyam Gupta blanked Mmoloki Mothala in the first game and gave away just two points in the second. Things were as easy for Jaseel Imsail and Vincent Lobo in the first doubles and George Thomas and Markose Bristow in the second.

Soon after the match, the Indians decided to go for a practice session, which was probably tougher for the players than the morning match.

In the same group, Scotland defeated Sri Lanka yesterday 4-1, while Maldives had beaten Botswana by the same margin. Lanka scored their first winthis morning over Maldives 5-0. Though India beat Lanka in the Thomas Cup qualifiers recently, they may not be pushovers, for they took a match off Scotland on Wednesday and put up a tough fight in the other matches. T Edirisinghe defeated James Mailer in three games, the first two of which went to extra points. Then, S Janaka de Silva, ranked 236th in the world, took David Gilmour to three games.

Indian women stayed on course for a collision with Scotland for a place in the semi-finals from Pool B of the women8217;s badminton competition in the Commonwealth Games here. Following up on their creditable win over Wales, the Indian women blanked Sri Lanka 5-0, but the match was tougher than expected. With Scotland also going past Wales 4-1, the India-Scotland clash will determine who goes into the semi-final from this Pool. The winner will be assured of a medal by virtue of making it to the last four.

Aparna Popat, who is aiming for a medal in the individual competition which begins next week, encountered somestiff opposition from Renu Chandrika, who is not even in the top 200 as compared to the Indian8217;s 28th ranking in the world. Popat, who had lost to Kelly Morgan of Wales in the opening tie, finally won 11-7, 11-5.

Neelima Choudhary, who has been most impressive thus far, beat Dilhani de Silva 11-4, 11-0 and on current form should get useful points in the second singles. She could prove more than a handful for Scotland8217;s Sandra Wyatt, who will play second singles in the needle clash later on. Neelima is ranked 70th to Wyatt8217;s 77 rank, but the Scottish girl has more experience and has been playing a lot on the circuit this season.

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Manjusha Kanwar ran into trouble with her tosses and was missing the line by a few inches every now and then. She managed to find her bearings and held on for a 11-6, 11-6 win over Dina Dharmasena. In the first doubles, Madhumita Bisht and PVV Lakshmi lapsed into a lot of errors, hitting long and wide and even missing some serves. They fell back 3-6 before levelling scores andgoing on to win 15-11, 15-7 against Renu Chandrika and Inoke de Silva. Archana Deodhar and Manjusha Kanwar beat Dharmasena and Dilhani de Silva 15-2, 15-12 in the last doubles.

RESULTS

Men Group B: India bt Botswana 5-0 P Gopi Chand bt Tebogo Ofentse 15-1, 15-0; Nikhil Kanetkar bt E Kebairejang 15-0, 15-0; Abhinn Shyam Gupta bt Mmoloki Mothala 15-2, 15-0; Jaseel Imsail/ Vincent Lobo bt Harold Ndaba/ Kabelo Ofentse 15-0, 15-2; George Thomas/ Markose Bristow bt Tebogo Ofentse/ Mothala 15-1, 15-1; Sri Lanka bt Maldives 5-0

Women Group Z: England bt Fiji 5-0.