Qualifier Nishad faces no resistance

By Rakesh Rao

JAIPUR, FEB. 3. The badminton hall at the Jai Club is just about good enough for those keen to hit a few shuttles. However, by approving it as a suitable venue to hold the National badminton championship matches, the Badminton Association of India has carried things a little too far.

As the open events of the NTPC-sponsored championship began on Saturday, two rounds for women's singles as well as doubles were played on the two courts of Jai Club while the first round encounters for men's singles, doubles and mixed doubles were scheduled at the three `hova' courts at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium.

It was indeed a pitiable sight as the women were made to play at a venue which resembled an under-utilised warehouse. Mercifully, the application of gum-paint on the surface, saved a few knees and ankles from being sprained or twisted.

Considering the fact that one of the two BAI secretaries, Mr. L. C. Gupta, hails from this city, one expected things to be in much better shape. However, the disdain with which the BAI has dealt with these early rounds involving women is really shocking.

At least, in keeping with the stature of the championship, this back-up venue could have been spruced up and additional hova courts laid.

The players are not complaining since they are well aware of the futility. The frontline players are keen to get through these `hurdles' at the earliest and return to the better environs of the Sawai Man Singh Stadium.

The ones who scored runaway victories to reach the third round included Aparna Popat, Shruti Kurien, Leena Pednekar, Nupura Bhide and Neelima Chaudhary, seeded one, 11, 12, 13 and 16 in that order, as the matches, running well behind schedule, continued to produce expected results.

In men's singles, where the seeds will be in action only in the second round on Sunday, Petroleum Sports Control Board's Vijay Lancy and Delhi's Davinder Dhillon scored hard- fought victories. Also impressive was qualifier and National junior champion Nishad Dravid during his straight-game verdict over Assam's Pallav Deka 15-7, 15-7.

Lancy, facing Kerala's Roopesh Kumar, won the first game but trailed 1-14 in the second. He produced a dramatic rally to make it 14-all but Roopesh managed to claim the last three points. But it was Lancy all the way in the deciding game.

Dhillon, down 4-12 in the opening game against Kerala's K. A. Ashish, did not allow his fancied rival any more points on serve and won it. Ashish's superiority showed in the second but Dhillon was not to be denied today.

The match, which saw both players unhappy with the line judges, eventually turned Dhillon's way. Later, Ashish went on to earn a caution from the Chief Referee Mr. S. A. Shetty for being aggressive with a linesman.

lThe results:

Men's singles (first round): Nishad Dravid (Mah) bt Pallav Deka (Asm) 15-7, 15-7; Sanket Shetty (Mah) bt Himanshu Parmar (HP) 15- 9, 15-10; Nimish Goyal (MP) bt Rohan Kapur (Pun) 8-15, 15-9, 15- 12; K. R. Shivkumar (TN) bt Major Singh Kundi (Guj) 15-10, 15-8; K. Srinivasan (AP) bt Sanjay Das (Ben) 15-10, 15-1; Rohan Castolino (Kar) bt Gaurav Singh (AI) 15- 2, 15-3; J. V. Martin (TN) bt Dilip Gurung (Arunachal Pradesh) 15-2, 15-3; B. G. Kiran (BSB) bt Hemant Duggal (Del) 15-11, 15- 10; A. Pridhvi (AI) bt Pankaj Naik (Goa) 15-2, 15-8; G. B. Varghese (MP) 15-11, 15-6; Utsav Misra (UP) bt Ranveer Singh (Raj) 15-8, 15-10; V. Diju (Ker) bt Shafaq Nawab (Bih) 15-6, 15- 8; Yogesh Chavan (HP) bt Gurmukh Singh (Pun) 15-6, 15-7; Arvind Bhat (Kar) bt Rajiv Joshi (Meg) 15-7, 15-3; Amar Singh Kundi (Guj) bt Ajanta Choudhary (Asm) 15-3, 15-10; Devender Dhillon (Del) bt Aneesh K. A. 15-12, 10-15, 15-5; Ravinder Singh (UP) bt K. B. Gurung (Arunachal Pradesh) 15-6, 15-0; P. Sunil (AP) bt Mayur Ghatnekar (Rlys) 15- 7, 7-15, 15-7; Kanishka Das (Ben) bt Avinash Sharma (J&K) 15-11, 15-8; Vijay Lancy (PSCB) bt Roopesh Kumar (Ker) 15-7, 14-17, 15- 9; Mohammad Salim (Pun) bt Ankur Baruah (Asm) 11-15, 15-11, 15-4; Kunal Makwani (MP) bt Amandeep Sekhri (Ben) 15-11, 15-4; Rutupurna Kulkarni (Mah) bt Govinder Navelkar (Goa) 15-3, 15-4; Mitesh Hazarnis (Rlys) bt Piyush Parihar (Raj) 15-8, 15-6.

Women's singles (second round): Aparna Popat (PSCB) bt Mala Gaba (Chd) 11-1, 11-0; Swati Moghe (Guj) bt Priya Verma (Raj) 11-4, 11-0; Nupura Bhide (Mah) bt Madhavi Jolly (J&K) 11-3, 11-2; B. Sri Laxmi (AP) bt B. R. Kokila (Kar) 11-5, 11-1; N. Fatima (AI) bt Bibari Basumatary (Asm) 11-1, 3-11, 11-9; Leena Padnekar (LIC) bt Shelu (Bih) 11-1, 11-2; Oli Deka (Asm) bt Shalini Prakash (AI) 11-5, 7-11, 11-7; Neelima Choudhary (PSCB) bt Balarina Syiem (Meg) 11-0, 11-0; Tanuja Begam (Rlys) bt Susan Rajan (Ker) 11-3, 11-8.

First round: Puja Patil (Kar) bt Sudipta Roy (Ben) 11-2, 11-2; B. Srilaxmi (AP) bt Juhi Mathur (UP) 11-2, 11-9; Bibari Basumatary (Asm) bt V. Divya (TN) 11-1, 11-2; Amrita Bhattacharya (Ben) bt Deepa Mathur (Raj) 11-2, 11-4; Pratibha (Har) bt Smarika Manhas (J&K) 11-2, 11-9; Isha Sharma (Chd) bt Poonam Patial (HP) 7-11, 13-11, 11-5; Shalini Prakash (AI) bt Debashri Dey (Ben) 11-1, 11- 2; Kranti Sane (Mah) bt Gauri Chaudhary (UP) 11-5, 11-6; Susan Rajan (Ker) bt Parul Rawat (Del) 11-13, 13-12, 11-4.

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