Chetan Anand upstages Ratti

By Rakesh Rao

JAIPUR, FEB. 5. Aparna Popat had a score to settle. Looking eagerly forward to avenge the loss suffered at the hands of G. Jwala in the team championship final, the 23-year-old took just 27 minutes to put the young left-hander in her place on way to the semifinals of the NTPC National badminton championship here on Monday.

Even as Aparna was in the process of gunning down Jwala 11-2, 11- 5, men's fifth seed Chetan Anand knocked out second seed Sachin Ratti 12-15, 15-5, 15-11 in the best match of the event so far. The verdict of this 71-minute thriller helped Chetan feel better since Ratti had won their last encounter in the Railway Open final in New Delhi last year.

By sheer coincidence, the women' fifth seed Divya Ramesh also pulled off a surprise when she scalped twice National champion and third seed P.V.V. Laxmi in straight games. She now faces Aparna.

The day's most awaited clash, between Aparna and Jwala was expected to produced some sparks. But it was not to be. The pressure proved a little too much for Jwala. Aparna, on the other hand, was determined to let it be known that her form and status should not be judged by what she did on her ``off day'' last week.

``I was keen to beat her in the same championship and so, I was waiting for this match,'' said Aparna after accomplishing the job on hand. ``That day, nothing went right for me. It was my off- day. But today, everything went as per plan.''

Aparna ran away with the first game even before Jwala could settle down. ``It was over before I knew it,'' was how Jwala described the brief first game. In the second, Jwala did succeed in keeping the shuttle in play a little longer and even came close, at 5-6, before Aparna sorted out the minor aberration and went on to complete an uncomplicated victory.

Jwala admitted that she was under pressure today since everyone expected her to pull it off again. ``I did not play well at all. Nothing worked for me. I did have a slight chance in the second game but again, I made too many mistakes towards the end.

The two other quarterfinals produced expected results with second seed Manjusha Kanwar whipping Trupti Murgunde and fourth seed B.R. Meenakshi getting past Parul Priyadarshini.

Coming to the `Match of the Day', Chetan played what was clearly his best in the championship so far. He outwitted Ratti at the net, his drops were in place and flicks proved productive. Ratti matched his rival by gaining several points through toss-and-drop but conceded a few negatives at crucial junctures.

Chetan, after winning the close first game, was up 9-7 but gave away a series of easy points to let Ratti back into the match. In the deciding game, Ratti was off to a 3-0 lead before Chetan made his move. Chetan led 12-8 and even served for the match at 14-10 before Ratti closed in to 13-14. Chetan had the last laugh when, on his second match-point, his return hit the tape and fell over.

Earlier, P. Gopi Chand allowed Abhishek Bakshi no liberties and made the semifinals in just 37 minutes. He now faces Abhinn Shyam Gupta, whom he beat in last year's final. Gupta overcame a 2-10 deficit against Arup Baidya to win 17-14, 15-0, allowing just nine serving opportunities to his rival in the second game.

Arvind Bhatt, who stopped the gallant run of unseeded Anup Sridhar in the pre-quarterfinals in the morning, raised visions of an upset in his first appearance in the last-eight stage but was tamed by third seed Siddharth Jain in three games.

The results:

Men's singles (quarterfinals): P. Gopi Chand (PSCB) bt Abhishek Bakshi (AI) 15-6, 15-2; Abhinn Shyam Gupta (PSCB) bt Arun Baidya (Ben) 17-14, 15-0; Siddharth Jain (PSCB) bt Arvind Bhatt (Kar) 12-15, 15-5, 15-11; Chetan Anand (PSCB) bt Sachin Ratti (Rlys) 15-13, 10-15, 15-13.

Pre-quarterfinals: P. Gopi Chand bt Srikant Bakshi (Rlys) 15-1, 15-2; Abhishek Bakshi bt Thomas Kurien (Ker) 15-5, 15-11; Abhinn Shyam Gupta bt B.G. Kiran (BSB) 15-2, 15-7; Arup Baidya (Ben) bt Anuj Gupta (Guj) 17-14, 15-9; Arvind Bhat bt Anup Sridhar (AI) 15-8, 15-5; Siddharth Jain bt Ravinder Singh (UP) 15-8, 15-12; Chetan Anand bt Vijay Lancy (PSCB) 15-6, 15-3; Sachin Ratti bt Rutuparna Kulkarni (Mah) 15-6, 15-2.

Women's singles (quarterfinals): Aparna Popat (PSCB) bt G. Jwala (AP) 11-2, 11-5; Divya Ramesh (BAI) bt P.V.V. Laxmi (PSCB) 11-9, 11-0; B.R. Meenakshi (Kar) bt Parul Priyadarshini (AI) 11-5, 11- 6; Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) bt Trupti Murgunde (AI) 11-9, 11-4.

Pre-quarterfinals: Aparna bt D. Swetha (AI) 11-3, 11-1; Jwala bt Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) 11-3, 11-0; Laxmi bt Nupura Bhide (Mah) 13- 12, 11-5; Divya bt Leena Pednekar (LIC) 11-6, 11-5; Parul bt Sampada Shetye (Rlys) 11-2, 11-1; Meenakshi bt Neelima Chaudhary (PSCB) 11-7, 11-3; Trupti bt Shruti Kurien (AP) 11-9, 11-3; Manjusha bt Tanuja Begam (Rlys) 11-0, 11-1.

Third round: Leena bt Meenakshi Wagh (Mah) 11-2, 11-5; Sampada bt Poonam Tiwari (UP) 11-4, 11-7; Neelima bt Oli Deka (Asm) 11-4, 11-4; Meenakshi bt Palkan Nagori (Guj) 11-6, 11-8; Shruti bt C.H. Deepti (PSCB) 10-13, 11-9, 11-6; Trupti bt A.B. Nandini (Kar) 11- 1, 11-1; Tanuja bt Krupa Telang (Mah) 11-8, 5-11, 11-4; Manjusha bt Amrita Mukherjee (Ben) 11-4, 11-6.

Men's doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Markose Bristow (PSCB)/Vijaydeep Singh (Rlys) bt Bhaskar Bora/Bahinman Bora (Asm) 15-5, 15-7; Milind Ghate/Rajeev Bagga (Mah) bt B.G. Kiran/D. Guruprasad (BSB) 15-5, 15-6; Sanave Thomas/V. Diju (Ker) bt Rupesh Kumar (Ker)/Arvind Bhatt (Kar) 15- 13, 17-16; Srikant Bakshi/Yogender Singh (Rlys) bt Bhushan Akut/Ajay Kanwar (PSCB) 15-9, 2-15, 15-11; Abhishek Bakshi/Anup Sridhar (AI) bt Mitesh Hazarnis/Mayur Ghatnekar (Rlys) 15-5, 15- 7; George Thomas/Deepak Amarnath (PSCB) bt Abhijit Naimpally/G.S. Vinay (BSB) 15-0, 15-4; Jaison Xavier/Thomas Kurien (Ker) bt A. Pridvi/Chetan Anand (BAI) 15-3, 15-13; Vincent Lobo/Jaseel Ismail (PSCB) bt K. Sriniwas/Mohammad Ali (AP) 15-3, 15-4.

Women's doubles (quarterfinals): P.V.V. Laxmi (PSCB)/Madhumita Bisht (Rlys) bt Trupti Murgunde/Shalini Prakash (AI) 15-3, 15-5; Manju S. George/Krishna Hazarika (Del) bt Sim Sim Salaria/Nupura Bhide (Mah) 15-7, 4-15, 15-13; B.R. Meenakshi (Kar)/Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) bt Sampada Shetye (Rlys)/Archana Deodhar (PSCB) 14- 17, 15-7, 15-13; G. Jwala/Shruti Kurien (AP) bt D. Sweta (AI)/Neelima Choudhary (PSCB) 15-10, 15- 1.

Mixed doubles (quarterfinals): Markose Bristow (PSCB)/B.R. Meenakshi (Kar) bt Nagraj/Shruti Kurien (AP) 15-5, 10-15, 15-9; Jaseel P. Ismail/Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) bt Major Singh Kundi/Palkan Nagori (Guj) 15-1, 15-3; J.B.S. Vidyadhar (Rlys)/G. Jwala (AP) w/o Ajay Kanwar/Manju S. George (Del); Vincent Lobo (PSCB)/Madhumita Bisht (Rlys) bt V. Diju (Ker)/Fatima (AI) 15-4, 15-5.

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