Ratti, Baidya in title clash

CALCUTTA, DEC 9: Favourite Sachin Ratti continued to impress setting up a title clash with Railway colleague Arup Baidya in the 22nd Junior...

CALCUTTA, DEC 9: Favourite Sachin Ratti continued to impress setting up a title clash with Railway colleague Arup Baidya in the 22nd Junior National Badminton Championships at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here today. In the girls’ segment, top seed Divya Ramesh of Air-India will be challenged by unseeded giant-killer Parul Priyadarshini of Uttar Pradesh for the title.

Ratti was once again his relaxed, elegant self in beating Thomas Kurien 15-9, 15-4 in the semi-final. Ratti produced some excellent shots when it mattered most, to leave Kurien frustrated. Today’s win makes Ratti the favourite in the match against Baidya tomorrow.

Badya too had a comfortable time against Karnataka’s D Guruprasad in the semi-final, winning 15-7, 15-6.

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However, the Railways lad dropped a game against fourth seeded Nikhil Kaetkar in the quarter-final. In an upset match, Kanetkar grabbed the first game 15-6 before losing the next two 11-15, 9-15.

Ratti, however, had no such problems in his 15-2, 15-8 quarters win over the seventh seed B Chetan Anand.

Among the girls, the sub-junior national champion Parul Priyadarshini continued to topple seeds in her stride. While in the quarter-final, D Sweta of Air-India met her match in Parul, fourth seed Shalaka Damle became the youngster’s victim in the semi-final. None of the two seeds could take even a game off Parul, Sweta going down 5-11, 4-11 and Shalaka losing 2-11, 9-12.

Divya Ramesh too, did not drop any game in the two rounds she played today.

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