Manjusha anchors Indian win

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 13: Manjusha Kanwar demonstrated her guile in a crucial singles tie which put India on a strong footing in the Group B preliminary competition. India wrapped up the first tie 4-1 against Singapore on the opening day of the BPL-Asian Zone Thomas/Uber Cup badminton competition at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Sunday.

Aparna Popat gave India a 11-3 11-0 start over top-seeded Singaporean Fatimah Kumin Lim. After Neelima Chaudhary lost, Manjusha won her singles match and partnered Shruti Kurian to clinch the deciding doubles.
Results: Uber Cup (Group A): India bt Singapore 4-1 (Aparna Popat bt Fatimah Lim Kumin 11-3, 11-0; Luxi Xiao bt Neelima Choudhary 6-11, 5-11, Manjusha Kanwar bt Li Li 11-6, 11-7; Manjusha Kanwar-Shurti Kurien bt Fatimah-Luxi 15-13, 8-15, 15-6; PVV Laxmi-Madhumita Bisht bt 15-11, 17-14). Australia bt Sri Lanka 4-1 (Kellie Lucas bt Chandrika Renu Hettiarachic 11-8, 11-6; Dhilani de Silva bt Jane Crabtree 11-8, 11-4, Laura Blackman lost to Pameesha Dishanti 11-7, 11-13, 7-11, Vanessa Tyrrel-Tania Luiz bt Pameesha Dishanthi-Nadeesha Gayanthi 15-6, 15-3).
Thomas Cup (Group A): Thailand bt Nepal 5-0 (Boonsak Polsana bt Kiran Thapa 15-0, 15-1; Anupap Thiraratsak bt Pashupait 15-2, 15-4; Jakrapan Thanakthirat bt Bahadur Samir Singh 15-2, 15-4; Sudket Prapakamol-Patapol Ngernsrisuk bt Rajeev Dahal 15-3, 15-1, Kitipen Kitikul-Khunakorn Sushisodhi bt Bataram Thapa-Bahadur Samir Singh 15-2, 15-1); Mauritius bt Sri Lanka 3-2 (Denis Constantin bt Thushara Edirisinghe 15-6, 7-15, 15-13; Eddy Clarisse bt Duminda Jayakody 15-9, 17-16; Sampath Fernando bt Hyder Aboobakar 15-4, 15-6; Duminda Jayakody-Thushara Edirsinghe bt Denis Constantin-Eddy Clarisse 9-15, 15-9, 15-11; Yogesh Singh-Abhinesh Dussain bt Sampath Fernando-Chinthaka Gunaratne 15-13, 15-10). Group B: Singapore bt Iran 5-0 (Ronald Susilo bt Afshin Bozorgzadeh 15-2, 15-4; Kendrick Lee Yen Hui bt Raza Roshanomid 15-6, 15-13; Patrick Pong Lim Kim-Amand Santosa bt Afshin Bozorgzadeh-Ali Shahhose 15-3, 15-2; Faris Mawardi bt Sadegh Karbassi 7-15, 15-13, 15-11, Dicky Jugio Purwot-Teck Kian Khoo btRoshanomid Raza-Arash Mohaam Abdul 15-6, 15-13).

FUNG FAILS TO TURN UP
The championships received a major jolt when world silver-medallist Fung Permadi of Chinese Taipei failed to turn up for the meet. Suffering from an arm injury, he withdrew at the last minute. Even as the news of Permadi surfaced, match referee David Hoppen disqualified Zambia’s Thomas Cup team from the championships as they did not comply with the rules. As per Thomas/Uber Cup rule 15.1, a participating team has to arrive 24 hours before their first tie.

The referee has allowed Zambia who are arriving this evening to compete in the remaining scheduled ties in their group to compete, with the provison that their matches will not count towards ranking points.