Kanetkar knocked out

New Delhi, Feb 8: Number two Nikhil Kanetkar of Maharashtra, wilting under the sustained pressure tactics of No 12 Anuj Gupta of Gujarat,...

New Delhi, Feb 8: Number two Nikhil Kanetkar of Maharashtra, wilting under the sustained pressure tactics of No 12 Anuj Gupta of Gujarat, crashed out of the Open events of the Indian Oil Servo Senior National Badminton Championships in the pre-quarterfinals at the IG Stadium here today. Gupta won 15-11, 15-8.

The Ahmedabad-based ONGC employee, keeping the shuttle short, never allowed the left-handed Kanetkar to use his main weapons, the deceptive drops and smashes. The ploy worked to the advantage of the 22-year-old and the frustrated 19-year-old from Maharashtra was left to fight a losing battle.

In the end, Kanetkar admitted to playing a bad game but gave full credit to Gupta. 8220;He sized me up well and persisted with his game. It was not my day,8221; said Kanetkar. This was the second year in succession Nikhil was bowing out early in the Nationals, after last year8217;s quarter-final loss to Srikant Bakshi.

The other upset came in the form of B Kiran Kumar, seeded 16th. The Air- India man went down to19-year-old Madhur Kalia of Delhi 13-15, 5-15. Kalia, playing his first Senior Nationals, had already caused an upset yesterday by packing off No 4 Sushant Saxena. Today, the 12th class student, after trailing 8-11 in the first game, picked up from where he left off yesterday to sew up the match.

Srikant Bakshi, who lost to Vijay Lancy in the crucial team event a couple of days ago, avenged the loss today by ousting the Maharashtrian in straight games. In the women singles, No. 5 CH Deepti of BAI lost to unseeded Krishna Hazarika.

Results Men8217;s singles PQF: P Gopi Chand AP b Parag Modi A-I 15-1 15-4, Mangrish Palekar Rly b Utsav Mishra UP 17-16 15-3, Madhur Kalia Del b B Kiran Kumar A-I 15-13 15-5, Sachin Ratti Rly b Rajeev Bagga Mah 15-7 12-0 conceded, Ajit Wijetilak Kar b Arup Baidya Rly 10-15 15-4 15-1, Abhinn Shyam Gupta A-I b KA Aneesh Ker 15-7 8-15 15-3, Srikant Bakshi Rly b Vijay Lancy Mah 15-9 15-11, Anuj Gupta Guj b Nikhil Kanetkar Mah 15-1115-8.

Doubles PQF: Vincent Lobo/ Jaseel Ismail b Bhasker Bora/ T Yabang 15-6 15-6, Anuj Gupta/ Unni Krishna b Sanjoy Rao/ Hirak Sen 15-4 15-6, Parag Modi/ Sushant Niddodi b Ranjan/ Niraj Kumar 15-3 15-10, Harish Chander/ OP Singh b Yoginder Singh/ Anirudh Rao 15-11 15-8, Deepak Amarnath/ Jaison Xavier b Varinder/ Surinder 15-5 15-12, Praveen Gehlawat/ Davinder Dhillon b TJ Shanker/ S Shankaran 15-3 15-7, Vinod Kumar/ Roy Mathew b Jai Singh/ Mangrish Palekar 15-5 15-8, V. Diju/ Sanve Thomas b Piyush Parihar/ Raj Saraswat 15-8 15-10, Chetan Anand/ Mitesh Hazarnis b P Raghavan/ Mutha Rasu 15-2 15-9, Rajeev Bagga/ VD Singh b Major Singh/ Sameer Abassi 15-7 15-3, Ajay Kanwar/ Ajit Wijetilak b Ajanta Choudhary/ P Deka 15-2 15-2, Amrish Shinde/ Mayur Ghatnekar b P Sunil/ P Satish Chander 15-0 15-3, Thomas Kurian/ Jose George b Arita Nandi/ Arindam Mukherjee 15-6 15-12, Bhushan Akut/ Srikant Bakshi b Ashish Chander/ Sunil Pandey 15-9 15-5, Amit Mahrotra/ Utsav Mishra b Safaq Nawab/ Nilesh Kumar 15-5 15-10,George Thomas/ Markose Birstow b Kamal Das/ DS Mohanty 15-7 15-0.

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Women8217;s singles PQF: Aparna Popat Kar b Amrita WB 11-1 11-2, Nirmala Kotnis A-I b Ketki Thakkar A-I 11-3 11-2, Neelima Chowdary AP b Shalaka Damle A-I 11-5 11-6, BR Meenakshi Rly b D Sweta A-I 11-3 11-1, Sampada Shetye A-I b Manju T Abraham Kar 11-4 5-2 conceded, PVV Lakshmi AP b Kranti Sane Mah 11-1 11-3, Krishna Hazarika Asm b CH Deepti BAI 7-11 11-5 11-6, Manjusha Kanwar Mah b Divya Ramesh A-I 11-2 11-0.