Indians have a toast in France

BANGALORE, March 20: Four Indians including women's defending champion Aparna Popat entered the quarterfinals of the French Open Badminto...

BANGALORE, March 20: Four Indians including women8217;s defending champion Aparna Popat entered the quarterfinals of the French Open Badminton Championships under way at Paris.

Reigning National champion Pullela Gopi Chand, promising youngsters Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Nikhil Kanetkar also booked their berths in the last eight stage, according to a press release from the Badminton Association of India here Saturday.

However, former National champion Majusha Kanwar who won her pre-quarter final against Gillian Martin 82 of Scotland in straight games at 11-4, 11-1, lost in the next round to top seed Zhou Mi world No. 4of China 4-11, 9-11.

National champion and world No 49 Aparna Popat whipped better ranked 46 Ann Weckstrom of Denmark 11-8, 11-9 and then trounced Petra Overzier of Germany 164 11-6, 11-1. Aparna now faces Ling Wang Ting of Hong Kong, ranked 35th, in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Gopi Chand 49 with facile victories over F Kouchler of Denmark 15-3, 15-3 and Richard Doling of England15-14, 15-3 reached the quarterfinals. Gopi will lock horns with Martin Hagberg of Sweden, who is ranked 106.

Abhinn Shyam Gupta, who is ranked 170, accounted for Thomas Viborg of Iceland, ranked 55 places above him, 15-3, 15-5. In the pre-quarterfinals, he turned the tables on 54th ranked Yeoh Kay Bin of Malaysia in a marathon 90-minute three-games before prevailing at 12-15, 15-3, 15-10. Abhinn played with good control and confidence to beat the Malaysian, who was the runner-up in the last World junior Championships. He now clashes with Chen Gang 12 of China for a place in last four.

Nikhil Kanetkar 101 defeated J Aalto 15-12, 15-2 and Illka Nyqvist of Finland 15-5, 17-15. Now he plays Ng Wei 126 of Hong Kong for a place in the semis. Sachin Ratti 197 made Marcos V of Portugal sweat before going down to him in the second round at 13-15, 15-5, 12-15.

Chinese coach

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VIJAYAWADA: Prakash Padukone, the BAI Executive President, revealed today that a 28-year-old Chinese coach Dang, whofigured in the Chinese National team probables, has been roped in as the coach. 8220;Dang will be based at Bangalore and would visit all the regions to interact with our coaches8221; he said. 8220;Speed, fitness and stamina are our weak zones. The new coach would systematically work on our negative points.8221;