Abhinn, Manjusha beat the 'elements'

By Stan Rayan

KOCHI, FEB. 28. It must have run through his mind at least a dozen times. Despite a steady rise in ranking, last year's semifinal loss to Railway's Srikanth Bakshi troubled PSCB's Abhinn Shyam Gupta for a long time.

``Yes, I did think about it today,'' said Abhinn, the second seed here, minutes after his 15-12, 15-10 pre-quarterfinal victory over Bakshi in the 64th Indian Oil Servo senior National badminton championship at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Monday evening.

Abhinn is known for his patient game, tiring opponents with his sheer defensive play. But in Delhi last year, Srikanth outwitted Abhinn at his own waiting game. And this evening, Srikanth and the `elements' continued to trouble Abhinn.

``The lights were very dim. And since Srikanth is an attacking player, I had problems sighting the shuttle,'' said Abhinn, who trailed 6-10 in the first game.

Heavy rain drumming the roof also distracted Abhinn but the world No. 68, who played a major role in India entering the Thomas Cup team event recently, recovered nicely to stave off the Railway man. After levelling at 10 in the first game, Abhinn wore down Bakshi with long rallies.

Former four-time National champion Manjusha Kanwar also had problems with the conditions. The loud rain which brought a half- an-hour break midway through matches, the dim lights and a slight drift inside the hall upset her rhythm against the young Sruti Kurien.

``Basically, I'm a stroke-player but because of the drift and the rain interruption, I was not comfortable with my strokes,'' said the fourth-seeded Manjusha who dropped a game to the talented 16- year-old from Andhra.

The host Kerala, in one of its best performances in the senior nationals, had four men in the pre-quarterfinals. But not one of them moved to the next round. State champion Jaison Xavier had perhaps the best chance.

After taking the first game rather easily, Jaison rallied from 2- 8 in the second. He levelled at eight, and after leading 12-9 and 14-12, served for the match thrice but messed it all up.

The results:

Men's singles (pre-quarterfinals): P. Gopi Chand (PSCB) bt Mangresh Palekar (Mah) 15-13, 15- 5; Abhinn Shyam Gupta (PSCB) bt Srikanth Bakshi (Rly) 15-12, 15- 10; Sachin Ratti (Rly) bt Sanave Thomas (Ker) 15-7, 15-6; Sidharth Jain (PSCB) bt Thomas Kurien (Ker) 17-15, 15-7; Ajit Wijetilak (PSCB) bt J.B.S. Vidyadhar (AP) 15-13, 15-6; Chetan Anand (AI) bt Arup Baidya (Rly) 15-7, 15-1; Nikhil Kanetkar (PSCB) bt Joy T. Antony (Ker) 15-11, 15-4; Vijay Lancy (PSCB) bt Jaison Xavier (Ker) 8-15, 15-14, 15-2.

Women's singles (pre-quarterfinals): Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) bt Sruti Kurien (AP) 11-6, 8-11, 11-3; Leena Pednekar (LIC) bt Aditi Biswas (Karn) 11-7, 11-2.

Women's singles (third round): Aparna Popat (PSCB) bt Ruchi Kapil (UP) 11-1, 11-0; P.V.V. Lakshmi (PSCB) bt Krishna Deka Raja (Asm) 11-1, 11-7; G. Jwala (AP) bt Anumol Joy (Ker) 11-8, 11-7; Leena Pednekar (Goa) bt Meenakshi Wagh (Mah) 11-1, 11-2; Krupa Talang (Mah) bt Sridevi Gadali (Karn) 11-0, 11-4; Aditi Biswas bt Preethi Gupta (J&K) 11-1, 11- 1; Ketki Tiwari (AI) bt Bornali Raha (WB) 11-4, 10-13, 11-6; Sruti Kurien (AP) bt Devi Suma (Ker) 11-8, 11-4; Krishna Hazarika (Asm) bt Sampada Shetty (Rly, No.10) 11-9, 11-6; Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) bt B.R. Kokila (Karn) 11-4, 11-3; Pooja Patil (Karn) bt Tanuja Begum (Rly, No. 15) 7-11, 13- 10, 11-2; Neelima Choudhary (PSCB) bt Amrutha Bhattacharjee (WB) 5-11, 11-3, 11-6; Merit George (Ker) bt Mapia Sengupta (WB) 11-6, 11-2; Nupura Bide (Mah) bt Oli Deka (Asm) 4-11, 13-10, 11-2; Divya Ramesh (LIC) bt Neha Ganguly (Mah) 11-2, 6-11, 11-7; B.R. Meenakshi (Karn) bt Poonam Tiwari (UP) 11-1, 11-4.

Men's doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jaseel P. Ismail & Vincent Lobo (PSCB) bt U. Vimalkumar & S. Vinay Siddaraj (BSB) 15-9, 15- 3; Markose Bristow (PSCB) & Vijaydeep Singh (Rlys) bt N.S. Prakash & B.G.Kiran (Karn) 15-4, 15-7; Mitesh & Vidhayadhar (AP) bt Roopesh Kumar & H. Nishant (Ker) 8-15, 15-5, 15-12; Ajit Wijetilak & Jose George (WC) bt B. Souman & H.K. Sengupta (WB) 15-9, 15-0; Bhushan Akut & Vijay Lancy (Mah) bt Bhasker Bora & T.Yabang (Asm) 15-4, 15-7; George Thomas (PSCB) & Ajay Kanwar (Del) bt S.Chanderdeep & S. Amandeep (Punj) 15-7, 15-8; Deepak Amarnath & Jaison Xavier (Ker) bt Thomas Kurien & Joy T. Antony (Ker) 15-3, 16-17, 15-9; Rajeev Bagga & Srikant Bakshi (Mah) bt Anirudh & G. Milind (quali.) 17- 14, 17-16.

Women's doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Madhumita Bisht & P.V.V. Lakshmi bt Meetha B. & D. Krishna (Punj) 15-4, 15-2; Devi Suma & Fathima Nazneen Mohammed (Ker) bt Vinaya Shetty & Nazneen Karimi (Rly) 15-9, 13-15, 15-0; B.R. Meenakshi & Tanuja Begum (Rly) bt Oli Deka & Leena P (Asm) 15-2, 15-2; Neelima Choudhary & D.Swetha (qualif.) bt Manju S. George & Krishna Hazarika (Asm) 15-8, 15-7; Manjusha Kanwar & Archana Deodhar (PSCB) w/o B. Amrutha & Debashree Dey (WB); G. Jwala & Sruti Kurien (AP) bt Poonam Tiwari & Juhi Verma (UP) 15-2, 15-6.

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