Date:22/07/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/07/22/stories/2005072210862300.htm

Sport - Badminton

Saina Nehwal moves into quarterfinals

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Top-seeded Saina Nehwal of Andhra Pradesh made the quarterfinals in the both girls under-16 and under-19 categories of the Union Bank all-India junior ranking badminton championship at the KBA Courts here on Thursday.

The junior National champion beat Sampada S. of Maharashtra 11-2, 11-7 in the under-19 singles pre-quarterfinals and Ankita Ashok 11-0,11-3 in the under-16 singles.

In the boys' section, the fourth seed M.D. Anup Kiran of Karnataka went down 15-6, 15-4 to Gurusai Dutt of Bengal. In the under -19 singles, Saurav Kapoor of Haryana stunned the seventh seed, Anshuman Hazarika of Assam 15-11, 15-2.

The results: Pre-quarterfinals: Boys: Under-16: Oscar Bansal (Chd) bt Harsh Zaveri (Mah) 15-13, 15-13; Saurav Chatterjee (WB) bt Vikrant Kumar (AP) 15-9, 6-15, 17-16; Gursai Dutta (WB) bt M.D. Anup Kiran (Kar) 15-6, 15-4; Partik Patel (Guj) bt Nihar Tilekar (Mah) 15-13, 15-3; Abhimnayu Singh (MP) bt Aditya Prakash (Kar) 15-8, 15-10; Arun Nandaluri (AP) Bob Sharma (Pun) 15-7, 15-7; K. Tarun (AP) bt Sumeet Reddy (AP) 15-12, 15-2; Parin Chopda (Mah) bt Neeraj Rahman (Ker) 15-2, 15-7.

Under-19: P. Kashyap (AP) bt Akshay Dewalkar (Mah) 15-11, 15-7; Himanshu (Del) bt S. Aditya (Mah) 17-15, 15-11; Shanu Pratap Singh (Rly) bt Arun Nandaluri (AP) 15-8, 6-15, 15-9; V. Amar (Kar) bt Anish Reddy (AP) 15-2, 15-7.

Kaushik Pal (WB) bt Samrudh Rathod (Mah) 17-14, 17-14; Ajay Jayaram (Mah) bt Amey Joshi (Mah) 15-3, 15-7; Saurav Kapoor (Har) bt Anshuman Hazarika (Asm) 15-11, 15-2; Amit Khdgi (Mah) bt Mohit Kamat (Kar) 15-9, 15-8.

Girls: Under-16: Saina Nehwal (AP) bt Ankita Ashok (Kar) 11-0, 11-3; Mudra Dhinge (Mah) bt Vaishali Baira (Guj) 11-3, 11-1; Nitya Sosale (Kar) bt Vinitha Ghate (Mah) 13-11, 11-4; Monisha Vinayakak (Kar) bt Mahamala Mukherjee (WB) 11-3, 11-6; (Mah) bt Shruti Sridhar (Ker) 11-4, 11-3; P.C. Thulasi (Ker) bt J. Shruthi (AP) 11-3, 13-11; Meha Merin Ninan (Ker) w/o Trupti; Ashwini Ponnappa (Kar) bt Varda Dixit (Mah) 11-4, 11-5.

Under-19: Saina Nehwal bt S. Sampada (Mah) 11-2, 11-7; Ahantika Deka (Asm) bt Neha Pandit (Mah) 7-11, 13-10, 11-8; Anitha Ohlan (Rly) bt Ashwini Ponnappa (Kar) 11-8, 5-11, 11-6; Gayatri Vartak (Mah) bt Jui Asgarkar (Mah) 11-3, 11-2; Ruth Misha (Kar) bt Vaidehi Dave (Guj) 11-9, 11-2.

Sayali Gokhale (Mah) bt Jyotsna (AP) 11-2, 11-5; Ridhi Pajwani (Mah) bt Sonal More (Mah) 11-8, 11-1; Aparna Balan (Ker) bt Saumya Padhye (Kar) 11-5, 11-4.