Tags:
Journalism of Courage
HYDERABAD, February 7: P Gopi Chand did not really exert himself and yet his quarter-final opponent Vincent Lobo found the top seed too hot to handle. Gopi Chand served Lobo with a magic mix of deep tosses, half smashes, net drops combined with an occasional smash and Lobo ran from corner to corner to retrieve them.
And mercifully for Lobo, 24-year-old Gopi Chand did not prolong the torture in front of a goodly crowd, finishing off the match at 15-3, 15-3 to enter the semi-finals at the 62nd Bristol Senior National badminton championship here today.
Joining Gopi in the last four were second-seeded Abhin Shyam Gupta of Air-India, who cut his team-mate Kiran Kumar to size with a 15-4, 15-5 win. Gritty fighter Srikant Bakshi (fifth seed) of Railways upset third-seeded Nikhil Kanetkar of Air-India at 5-15, 15-8, 15-8 and sixth-seeded Dipankar Battacharjee who took the prize scalp of Sachin Ratti with an unexpected 18-13, 15-10 win.
With a fine mixture of defence and lightning smashes, 27-year-oldBhattacharjee did not allow Ratti to find his rhythm. With Ratti playing into his hands, Bhattacharjee clinched the first game at 18-13 and closed out the match with a 15-10 win in the second.
NEELIMA UPSET: The semi-finals line-up in the women’s section comprises only one surprise, that of fifth-seeded Pooja Parekh of Railways who defeated Neelima Chaudhary, ranked two spots above her.
If Neelima dug her own grave, Pooja Parekh forced her opponent into doing that. Neelima played too casual a game to expect any better result against a seeded player and lost 9-11, 11-7, 5-11.
Men’s semi-final line-up: P Gopi Chand vs Srikant Bakshi, Abhin Shyam Gupta vs Dipankar Bhattacharjee. Women’s semi-final line-up: Aparna Popat vs Lakshmi; Pooja Parekh vs Manjusha Kanwar.
Results
Men’s singles: (quarter-finals): P Gopichand (AP) bt Vincent Lobo (Rly) 15-3,15-3; Abhin Shyam Gupta (AI) bt B Kiran Kumar (AI) 15-4, 15-4; Srikant Bakshi (Rly) bt Nikhil Kaneitkar (Rly) 5-15, 15-8, 15-8; Dipankar Bhattacharjee(Assam) bt Sachin Ratti (BAI) 18-13, 15-10.
Pre-quarter-finals: Nikhil Kanetkar (A-I) bt Ajit Wijetilak (Kar) 15-6, 15-9; Dipankar Bhattacharjee (Assam) bt Arub Vaidya (Rly) 15-12, 15-5; Srikant Bakshi (Rly) bt Suneet Sebastian (Ker) 15-6, 15-12; Sachin Ratti (BAI) bt Siddarth Jain (A-I) 14-17, 11-5 conceeded; P Gopi Chand (AP) bt Parag Modi (Mah) 15-7, 15-3; B Kiran Kumar (A-I) bt Anuj Gupta (Guj) 15-12, 15-10; Vincent Lobo (Rly) bt Chetan Anand (A-I) 14-17, 15-9, 15-3; Abhin Shyam Gupta (A-I) bt Davinder Dhillion (Del) 15-6, 17-14.
Women’s singles (quarter-finals): P V V Lakshmi bt Larisa Sadarangani 11-3, 11-4; Aparna Popat bt C Deepti 11-2, 11-2; Manjusha Kanwar bt B R Meenakshi 12-10, 11-12, 11-3; Pooja Parekh bt Neelima Choudary 11-9, 7-11, 11-5.
Pre-quarterfinals: P V V Lakshmi (AP) bt Firoza Batliwala (BAI) 11-6, 8-11, 11-2; Manjusha Kanwar (Del) bt Nirmal Kotnis (A-I) 11-1, 11-4; C Deepthi (Rly) bt Sampada Shetty (A-I) 9-12, 11-6, 11-8; B R Meenakshi (Rly) bt Shalaka Damle 11-9, 11-0; LarisaSadaragani (A-I) bt Parul Priyadarshini (UP) 8-11, 11-5, 11-4; Pooja Parekh (Rly) bt Asawari Patwardhan (Mah) 8-11, 11-4, 11-3; Aparna Popat (Kar) bt Divya Ramesh (A-I) 11-8, 12-9; Neelima Choudhary (A-I) bt Manju T Abraham (Kar) 11-1, 11-7.
