Date:26/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/01/26/stories/2007012610842200.htm

Sport - Badminton

Abhinn Shyam Gupta bows out

K. Keerthivasan

PATNA: A tossed up service sailed long and it was all over for two-time National champion Abhinn Shyam Gupta (PSPB).

The 27-year-old 13th seed, who was coming into his own after a pretty good season, bowed out to Saurav Kapoor of Haryana 3-21, 21-15, 21-19 in the men's second round of the BSNL senior National badminton championships at the Secretariat Sports Club here on Thursday.

A runner-up in the last junior Nationals at Panchkula (Haryana), Saurav had nothing to lose and kept attacking from the backcourt despite the reverse in the first game, which had the former champion at tenterhooks.

Medical break

Abhinn took a two-minute medical break (a slight swelling in the right foot) when he was trailing 15-17 in the second. He, however, could not win a point thereafter. Abhinn led 11-10 when the two changed sides in the decider.

Abhinn then took an 18-16 lead, but Saurav inched ahead to 20-18 and went on to win the contest in 50 minutes. Saurav will now take on Manish Rawat of Maharashtra.

The top three players, Anup Sridhar, P. Kashyap, Chetan Anand, in the men's section and Saina Nehwal, Trupti Murgunde and Aditi Mutatkar in the women's category reached the third round.

Important results: Men: Second round: Singles: Anup Sridhar (PSPB) bt Amit Saxena (MP) 21-6, 21-8; Utsav Mishra (A-I) bt V. Amar (Kar) 21-16, 21-12; S.D.S. Krishna (AP) bt Mithun Das (Asm) 23-21, 21-11; Ravinder Singh (U.P.) bt Praveen (Har) 21-12, 21-9; Govind Navelkar (Goa) bt Rajiv Bajaj (Del) 19-21, 21-18, 21-15; C.M. Shashidhar (AP) bt Oscar Bansal (Chan) 21-18, 21-18; Rohit More (Mah) bt Arup Baidya (Rlys) 21-12, 21-19; Nikhil Kanetkar (PSPB) bt D.B. Thapa (U.P.) 21-10, 21-8; Ajit Wijetilekk (Kar) bt Aditya Elango (A-I) 22-20,14-21, 21-16; K. Tanishak (Del) bt Satinder (AIU) 21-12, 21-14; Anand Pawar (A-I) bt Girija Shankar Ray (Ori) 21-6, 21-8; Sumit Dahiya (Har) bt Nigel D'sa (Mah) 15-21, 23-21, 21-18; J.B.S. Vidyadhar (AP) bt Alwin Francis (Ker) 21-18, 21-13; Guru Sai Dutt (AP) bt Siddharth Jain (TN) 21-17, 20-22, 21-10; Sachin Ratti (Rlys) bt Jibi Varghese (CG) 21-15, 21-14; Ajay Jayaram (Mah) bt Tomar Angu (ANP) 21-4, 21-3; Sagar Chopda (A-I) bt Uttam Choubey (MP) 21-12, 21-7; Chetan Anand (PSPB) bt Mohd. Saleem (Pun) 21-4, 21-6; Manish Rawat (Mah) bt Srujan Nandaluri (A-I) 21-15, 21-18; Saurav Kapoor (Har) bt Abhinn Shyam Gupta (PSPB) 3-21, 21-15, 21-19; Rohan Castelino (Kar) bt Vikram Saini (J&K) 21-10, 21-7; Jishnu Sanyal (A-I) bt Kaushik Pal (WB) 21-11, 21-14; Tanvir Gill (Dli) bt Adarsh Kumar (Bih) 21-8, 21-14; P. Kashyap (AP) bt Anuj Gupta (Guj) 21-9, 21-8.

Women: Singles: Saina Nehwal (PSPB) bt Sarju Bala (MP) 21-7, 21-7; Chitralekha (Dli) bt Amita Dhainje (Mah) 21-19, 19-21, 21-14; Shruti Kurien (PSPB) bt S. Kayathri (Py) 21-5, 21-3; B.R. Meenakshi (PSPB) bt Swati Sharma (Kar) 21-7, 21-9; Ashwini Ponappa (Kar) bt Monali Sinha (BSNL) 21-14, 21-13; Neha Pandit (A-I) bt Kanika Malewar (Raj) 21-12, 21-7; Merit George (Ker) bt Meenu (Har) 21-10, 21-12; J. Shruthi (AP) bt Jui Agaskar (Mah) 15-21, 21-19, 24-22; Aditi Mutatkar (PSPB) bt Priyanka Saraf (CG) 21-3, 21-7; Jwala Gutta (PSPB) bt Vanshikha (Har) 21-4, 21-11; Poonam Tiwari (Utr) bt Anees Kwosar (TN) 21-10, 21-4; Aparna Balan (Ker) bt Uma Rani Palit (Jhar) 21-4, 21-4; Gayatri Kochak (Mah) bt Krishti Das (Asm) 21-9, 21-7; Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) bt Mohita Sachdev (Dli) 21-12, 21-19.