Date:31/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/31/stories/2007053103362100.htm

Sport - Badminton

Arun, Arundhati advance

Sports Reporter

Chennai: Top-seeds Arun Nandaluri (Air India) and Arundhati Pantawane (Maharashtra) entered the boys' and girls' under-19 singles semifinals respectively, in the second day of the Smt. Krishna Khaitan memorial all-India junior badminton tournament, at the Jawaharlal Indoor Stadium, on Wednesday.

Nandaluri beat sixth seed Abhimanyu Singh of MP 21-18, 15-21, 21-13, while Pantawane defeated Trupti Lavanya (MP) 25-23, 21-13. Girls' second seed Monisha Vinayak of Karnataka was shown the door by UP's Parsa Naqvi 21-18, 21-13.

Nandaluri had it tough in the second game, with Abhimanyu attacking at will. He came back refreshed after the second game break, hitting his shots deep and creating sufficient angle.

Fourth seed Saurabh Verma was beaten in the pre-quarterfinals by B. Sumeeth Reddy of AP 21-10, 10-21, 21-18. Pantawane stuttered in the first game, but out-hit her opponent in the second, wrapping it up convincingly at the end.

In the girls' under-16 top-seed N. Sikki Reddy and Prajakta Sawant entered the final.

India's chief national coach Puella Gopi Chand was present on Wednesday to witness the matches. "Most of the players here have been on the circuit. I'm trying to find someone out of the group and see how they perform in match conditions."

Other results: Quarterfinals:

Under19: boys: R.M.V. Guru Sai (AP) bt B. Sai Praneeth (AP) 21-14, 21-15; B. Sumeeth Reddy (AP) bt Vikranth Kumar (AP) 21-18, 21-13; Aditya Elango (TN) bt K. Tarun (AP) 15-21, 21-13, 21-10. Girls: J. Shruthi bt V. Ruth Misha (Kar) 21-18, 21-18; N. Sikki Reddy (AP) bt P.C. Thulasi (Ker) 14-21, 21-14, 21-16.

Semifinals: Boys' under-16: Sai Praneeth bt Raj Kumar (Pun) 16-21, 21-16, 21-16; Hirak Jyoti Neog (Asm) bt H.S. Prannoy (Ker) 21-14, 14-21, 21-16. Under-13: girls: P.V. Sindhu (AP) bt R. Jamuna Rani (AP) 21-13, 21-17; Manisha (AP) bt D. Rituparna (WB) 21-18, 21-23, 21-14. Boys: Rohit Yadav (AP) bt B. Sriram (AP) 21-15, 22-20; Arun George (Ker) bt R. Santosh (AP) 21-17, 21-15.