The Hindu : Ratti scores a morale-boosting win

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 19, 2002

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Sport - Badminton

Ratti scores a morale-boosting win

By Our Special Correspondent

KANPUR APRIL 18. Sachin Ratti did not let the demons of three straight losses to Chetan Anand and hound him any longer. With a masterly display, the Railwayman raced away to a much-needed confident-boosting victory over the second seed on way to the men's singles semifinals of the Hari Chand memorial all India ranking badminton tournament here on Thursday.

At the Harsh Tiwari Indoor Hall Stadium in the Green Park Stadium premises, Ratti kept his errors to the minimum and posted a 7-5, 7-2, 7-4 triumph to set up a clash with Sidharth Jain. The lanky Jain made it at the expense of Thomas Kurien, the conqueror of fourth seed Ravinder Singh in the pre-quarterfinals.

From the top half of the draw, top seed P. Gopi Chand and third seed Arvind Bhatt eased into the semifinals without much difficulty. Gopi staved off a game-point at 4-6 in the second game to stop J. B. S. Vidyadhar 7-3, 8-6, 7-2 in 30 minutes. Bhatt, in his 50-minute encounter against C.M. Shashidhar, overcame the loss of the opening game and, like Gopi, bounced back from 4-6 to seal the match 3-7, 7-2, 7-4, 8-6.

But the day surely belonged to Ratti. ``I have beaten Chetan seven or eight times but had lost to him in the last three matches. So, psychologically, he was better off before the match as I had lost to him very badly in our last match at Udaipur last winter. For me, this was a very big match and I was charged up to do well. I went all out and mercifully, everything worked for me,'' said Ratti, who had raised his arms in triumph as Chetan had failed to return on match-point.

Ratti's losses to Chetan, before Udaipur, had come at the Asian Sattelite at Hyderabad in 2000 and the National championship at Jaipur in 2001.

Today, it was Chetan's high percentage of negative points that proved decisive in this 33-minute match. Ratti never trailed in the match and it was his consistency that forced repeated errors from his rival.

In the third game, after Ratti gave away three easy points to let Chetan lead at 4-3, there was a possibility of an extended battle but that was not to be. Ratti snatched the lead at 5-4 and after getting back the serve, controlled the next two rallies to complete an emphatic victory.

The results:

Men's singles: Quarterfinals: P. Gopi Chand (IOC) bt J.B.S. Vidyadhar (Rlys) 7-3, 8-6, 7-2; Arvind Bhatt (Kar) bt M. Shashidhar (AP) 3-7, 7-2, 7-4, 8-6; Siddharth Jain (ONGC) bt Thomas Kurien (Ker) 7-2, 5-7, 7-3, 7-4; Sachin Ratti (Rlys) bt Chetan Anand (ONGC) 7-5, 7-2, 7-4. Pre-quarterfinals: Gopi Chand bt Hemant Duggal (Rlys) 7-1, 7-1, 7-1; Vidyadhar bt Roopesh Kumar (Ker) 7-2, 3-7, 5-7, 7-3, 7-5; Bhatt bt Arup Baidya (Rlys) 7-0, 7-5, 7-2; Shashidhar bt Joy T. Anthony (Ker) 7-4, 3-7, 7-1, 8-6; Jain bt Mangrish Palekar (Rlys) 7-2, 0-7, 7-1, 5-7, 7-4; Kurien bt Ravinder Singh (UP) 5-7, 8-7, 7-0, 7-5; Ratti bt Sushant Saxena (UP) 8-6, 7-2, 7-4; Chetan Anand bt Nimesh Goel (MP) 7-0, 7-1, 7-1.

Women's singles: Quarterfinals: P.V.V. Lakshmi (PSCB) bt Poonam Tiwari (Rlys) 7-0, 7-0, 7-1; B. R. Meenakshi (PSCB) bt Fatima Nazneen (AI) 7-4, 7-4, 7-0; Neelima Choudhary (PSCB) bt C. H. Deepti (PSCB) 6-8, 1-7, 8-7, 7-1, 7-5; Trupti Murgunde (AI) bt G. Jwala (PSCB) 7-0, 8-7, 7-0. First round: Poonam bt Ankita Tiwari (UP) 7-0, 7-0, 7-0; Meenakshi bt Jyoti Pandey (UP) 7-0, 7-1, 7-0; Neelima bt Gauri Chaudhary (UP) 7-4, 7-1, 7-1; Jwala w.o. Tanmoyee Nandy (Rlys).

Men's doubles: Quarterfinals: Jaiseel P. Ismail and Jaison Xavier (PSCB) bt Ajay Kanwar (Del) and Sachin Ratti (Rlys) 7-5, 7-4, 7-3; Markose Bristow (PSCB) and Roopesh Kumar (Ker) bt Vijay Lancy (Mah) and Thomas Kurien (Ker) 7-3, 7-2, 6-8, 7-3; Vijaydeep Singh (Rlys) and Ustav Mishra (UP) bt Mitesh Hazarnis and J. B. S. Vidyadhar (Rlys) 7-2, 1-7, 7-4, 7-5; Sanave Thomas and V. Diju (Ker) bt B. G. Kiran (BSB) and Pallav Deka (Asm) 7-0, 7-3, 6-8, 7-1. First round: Bristow and Roopesh bt Yuvraj Kumar and S. Velon (TN) 7-3, 7-4, 7-2; Vijay Lancy and Thomas Kurien bt Mangrish Palekar and B. Nagraj (Rlys) 7-2, 6-8, 7-0, 4-7, 7-3; B. G. Kiran and Pallav Deka bt Bhushan Akut (Mah) and George Thomas (Ker) 2-7, 7-5, 7-3, 7-0; Sanave Thomas and V. Diju (Ker) bt Shiva Kumar and S. Kannan (TN) 8-7, 7-2, 7-4.

Women's doubles: First round: P.V.V. Lakshmi and C.H. Deepti (PSCB) bt Jyoti Pandey and Jyoti Mandal (UP) 7-2, 7-0, 7-1; Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) and Archana Deodhar (Mah) bt Jyoti Rajput and Debanshi (UP) 7-0, 7-0, 7-0.

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