Kanetkar returns with a bang

By Kalyan Ashok

BANGALORE, AUG. 9. Nikhil Kanetkar is back with a bang on the badminton circuit. The 22-year old southpaw from Pune, who was out of action for nearly a year, showed that he has lost very little of his touch as he stunned the top seed, Andrew South of England 6-15, 15-11, 15-2 in exactly an hour and entered the quarterfinals of the BPL Asian Satellite badminton championship at the Karnataka Badminton Association Stadium here on Thursday.

Kanetkar's last appearance here was in the BPL senior Championship, where he was a losing finalist to Gopi Chand. After playing a few tournaments in the East, Singapore and Malaysian Open last season, Nikhil was struck down by liver infection, which totally shut him out from action for rest of the year.

South is an attacking player and in his quest for maiden satellite title, began in a whirlwind fashion, racing to 9-2 lead against a tentative Kanetkar and closed the first game easily at 15-6.

Kanetkar gathered his wits and carefully executed a counter assault in the second game - slowing the pace and keeping the leash over his rival at the net and never allowing him to rally. Building on early lead of 7-3, he wrapped up the game at 15-11 to restore parity.

The decider saw Kanetkar in full flow against an erratic South, who kept fumbling with his backhand returns at the net. The Indian simply dominated the course to roll to an emphatic triumph.

``It was pretty good start with a big win. One thing that really made difference was that I was not under pressure like South. I think he was in bit of bother, when things got tough`` , said an elated Kanetkar, who now meets Jakrapan Thanathiratham of Thailand in the last eight round.

Another notable victor on the day was the local lad, Arvind Bhat, who after laying low then top junior, Anup Sridhar in the opener (15-9, 15-9), scalped the fourth seed, Mathew Shuker of England 15-9, 15-6.

The Karnataka teenager, Rohan Castelino pushed the second seed, Siddrarth Jain to ropes with a fighting display. Though lacking the versatility and experience of his fancied rival, Castelino battled on bravely to stretch him to the distance. Siddarth, who was hit by cramps in the decider and needed medical attention, hung on to carve out 15-11, 7-15, 15-7 win in 65 minutes.

There were no surprises in the women's singles and all the fancied ones made the last eight stage, including top seed, B.R. Meenakshi and the second seed and National champion Aparna Popat. Aparna recorded the fastest win of the day as mowed down Fathima Nazneen Mohammed in just 13 minutes at 11-0, 11-3.

Meenakshi beat Sampada Shettye 11-6,11-0 while the third seeded Thai, Salakjit Polsana raced to an 11-2, 11-3 victory over Krishna Deka Raja.

The fourth seed, Divya Ramesh, gave a walk over to Shruthi Kurien after informing the Chief Referee that she was suffering from fever since last night. Another absentee was Sachin Ratti, who did not turn up for the meet.

The quarterfinal line-up (Indians unless specified):

Men: Nikhil Kanetkar v Jakrapan Thanathiratham (Tha); Chetan Anand v Mark Burgess (Eng); Allan Tai (Mal) v Arvind Bhat; Siddarth Jain v Anupap Thirartsakul (Tha).

Women: B.R. Meenakshi v P.V.V. Lakshmi; Salakjit Polsana (Tha) v G. Jwala; Nucharin Teekhatrakul (Tha); Aparna Popat v Pooja Patil.

The results:

Men's singles (pre-quarterfinals): Nikhil Kanetkar bt Andrew South (Eng) 6-15, 15-11, 15-2; Chetan Anand bt Mayur Ghatnekar 17-15, 15-3; Mark Burgess (Eng) bt B.G. Kiran 15- 5, 15-11; Allan Tai (Mas) bt Lok Tin Tam (HK) 15-6, 15-6 Jakrapan Thanaathiratham (Tha) bt Ong Huck lee (HK) 11-15,15-10,15-5; Arvind Bhat bt Mathew Shuker (Eng) 15-9, 15-6; Anupap Thiraratsakul (Tha) bt Thomas Kurien 3-15, 15-10, 15-13; Siddarth Jain bt Rohan Castelino 15-11, 7-15, 15-7.

Men's singles (first round): Andrew South (Eng) bt Nishad Dravid 15-5, 15-11; Nikhil Kanetkar bt N. Shivaprakash 15-3, 15-4; Jakrapan Thanathiratham (Tha) bt Sushanth Saxena 15-12, 10-15, 15-2; Ong Huck Lee (Mas) bt Arup Baidya 15-2, 15-11; Chetan Anand bt Joy Antony 15-5, 16-17, 15-4; Mark Burgess (Eng) bt Abhijith Naimpally 15-3, 15-5; Allan Tai (Mas) bt Sanave Thomas 15-10, 15- 4; Lok Tin Tam (HK) bt Nimish Goel 15-11, 15-13; Arvind Bhat bt Anup Sridhar 15-9, 15-9; Mathew Shuker (Eng) bt Ruparna Kulkarni 15-9, 15-0; Thomas Kurien bt Anuj Gupta 17-15, 15-11; Anupap Thirartsakul (Tha) bt K.A. Anish 15-4, 15-8; Rohan Castelino bt Himanshu Thakkar 15-3, 15-13; Siddarth Jain bt B.S. Vidhyadhar 15-5, 15-11.

Women's singles (pre-quarterfinals): B.R. Meenakshi bt Sampada Shettye 11-6, 11-0; P.V.V. Lakshmi bt Shalini Prakash 11-1, 11-0; Salakjit Polsana (Tha) bt Krishna Deka Raja 11-2, 11-3; G. Jwala bt Parul Priyadarshini 11- 3, 11-6; Nucharin Teekhatrakul (Tha) bt Trupti Murgunde 10-13, 11-9, 11-8; Pooja Patil bt Siu Ching Man (HK) 11-3, 11-8; Aparna Popat bt Fathima Nazneen Mohd 11-0, 11-3.

Women's doubles (quarterfinals): G. Jwala & Shruti Kurien bt Ruchi Kapil & Krupa Telang 15-3, 15-3; Salakjit Polsana & T. Nucharin (Tha) bt P.V.V. Lakshmi & G. Sharada Reddy 15-6, 15-2; B.R. Meenakshi & Oli Deka bt Archana Deodhar & Sampada Shetty 15- 4, 15-4; Li Wing Mui & Siu Ching Man (HKG) bt Trupti Murugunde & Fatima Nazneen 15-4, 15-3.

Women's doubles: P.V.V. Lakshmi & Sharada Reddy bt Shalini Prakash & Aditi Biswas 15-4, 15-6; Archana Deodhar & Sampada Shettye bt E.B. Nandini & Chandana Rajendra 15-2, 15-2; Trupti Murgunde & Fathima Nazneen Mohd bt Suganya & A. Divya 15-9, 15-8.

Men's doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sanave Thomas & V. Diju bt Ajit Haridoss & Anna Srinivasan 9-15, 15-4, 15-6; Arvind Bhat & Rupesh Kumar bt Chetan Anand & A. Pridhvi 15-9, 15-12; Kitipon Kitikul & P. Sudket (Tha) bt B.G. Kiran & N. Shivaprakash 15-5, 15-9; Jaseel Ismail & Jaison Xavier bt Bhaskar Borah & Parveen Gahlawat 15-6, 15-2; Lok Tin Tam (HKG) bt J.B.S. Vidyadhar & K. Srinivasan 15-9, 15-11; Markose Bristow & Vijaydeep Singh bt T. Anupap & Jakrapan (Tha) 15-6, 7-15, 15- 10; George Thomas & Deepak Amarnath bt Nishad Dravid & Bahniman Borah 15-13, 15-4; Rosman Razak & N.G. Kean Kok (Mal) bt Mayur Ghatnekar & K.A. Anish 15-3, 15-4.

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