Mixed luck for India in Thomas/Uber Cup draw

Hosts India had mixed luck in the draw of the BWF Li-Ning  Thomas and Uber Cup with the men finding themselves in the ‘Group of Death’, while the women managing a considerably easier group.

The draw for the prestigious team championship, to be held in Delhi from May 18-25, was conducted here on Sunday in the presence of Badminton World Federation COO Thomas Lund, Badminton Association of India president Dr Akhilesh Das Gupta and chief national coach Pullela Gopi Chand among others.

According to the draw, Indian men have been placed in Group C along with Malaysia, Korea and Germany with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the quarterfinal stage.

“I guess ours is the toughest group. We have Malaysia, Korea and Germany against whom we are expecting good matches. It is going to be challenging in both singles and doubles. Our group has world no 1 player from Malaysia. But we have to also take in to consideration that our players have beaten the Korea & Germany No 1. Thus, I would say that everyone has a fair chance of qualifying,” said one of India’s future star B Sai Praneeth after the draw.

While Malaysia boasts of world number one Lee Chong Wei in singles, the Koreans and German’s are known to rely on their doubles combinations in team championships.

While the men have their task cut out, the Indian women would have heaved a sigh of relief when Li Ning Marketing Director Chen Zhiben unveiled India’s name in Group C of the Uber Cup draw.

Thailand, Canada and Hong Kong are the other teams in the group and India would definitely fancy advancing to the knock out stage given that the team boasts of two top-10 singles players.

Gopi Chand echoed the same sentiments when he said, “I think it’s an even draw in both the Cups. We have good chance of qualifying to the next stages even though it is going to be tough for everyone. In the Uber Cup, Thailand is going to be challenging opponent but we should sail through. For the Thomas Cup, I would say it’s going to be a tough competition but hope we qualify to the next round.”

 India’s women representative at the ceremony, Sindhu could not hide her happiness after being slotted in a better group than the men counterpart and said they would go do the distance in home conditions.

“It’s a good draw for us. We will be playing in home conditions and will give our full effort. Obviously its not going to be easy as we have Ratchanok (world champion Ratchanok Intanon) representing Thailand in our group and many other tough opponent. However Saina & me along with the doubles team will give our best,” she added.

This is the first time that the BWF has done away with the qualifying stage and raised the number of teams participating in the tournament from 12 to 16. The teams qualified on the basis of their world rankings with defending champions China and hosts India getting a direct entry.

Grouping

Thomas Cup

Group A- Indonesia, Thailand, Nigeria, Singapore

Group B- Japan, Denmark, Hong Kong, England

Group C- Malaysia, Korea, Germany, India

Group D- China, Chinese Taipei, Russia, France

 

Uber Cup

Group A-China, Chinese Taipei, England, Russia

Group B- Korea, Indonesia, Australia, Singapore

Group C- Thailand, India, Canada, Hong Kong

Group D- Japan, Denmark, Malaysia, Germany

Tough draw for host shuttlers in India Open

Indian hopes of ending the title drought in the $250,000 Yonex Sunrise India Open Super Series badminton tournament that begins in New Delhi from April 1 would hinge on the two women’s stars – Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu – overcoming a stiff draw and the top three Chinese stars.

The draw for the fourth edition of the competition was released yesterday and the Indian contingent would definitely feel hard done.

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina, seeded eighth here, begins her campaign against Austrian Simone Prutsch and should sail through till the quarterfinals where she is likely to meet world number 3 Yihan Wang of China.

While Saina should be relatively safe till the last eight stage, Sindhu faces All England champion Shixian Wang in the first round. The lanky Indian would, however, take heart from the fact that she has a 3-0 head-to-head record against the Chinese opponent.

If the two Indian stars manage to maintain an unbeaten run, they could face each other in the semifinals.

The men’s singles players have an uphill task to even move beyond the first round with P Kashyap facing sixth seed Zhengming Wang, B Sai Praneeth takes on seventh seed Pengyu Du and national champion K Srikanth faces Japan’s Takuma Ueda in their respective opening round encounters.

Sindhu, Srikanth crowned national champions

K Srikanth and P V Sindhu registered comfortably victories to lift the men’s and women’s singles titles in the 78^th ATS Senior National Badminton championship at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here on Monday.

Thailand Grand Prix Gold winner Srikanth saved a game point in the second game to over the challenge of second seed RMV Guru Sai Dutt 21-13, 22-20 in 40 minutes to lift the Vikas Topiwala Challenge Cup.

Earlier, world championship bronze medallist P V Sindhu ended the dream run of giant killer Rituparna Das 21-11, 21-17 to reclaim the Olympian Badminton Challenge Cup for the second time in three years.

Sindhu was the runaway favourite to lift the women’s singles title and the world number 11 was always in control throughout the 30 minute encounter.

The men’s singles final was a lot closer encounter. Both players began on a cautious note and it was Srikanth who put the foot on the accelerator first. He opened up a five point lead at the first break and then just built on the advantage to draw first blood.

It looked like the second game was also going into the same direction when Srikanth opened six point lead at 14-8. But Guru wasn’t ready to give up tamely and slowly clawed back by prolonging rallies and making his opponent to work harder.

However, it could not force the match into a decider as Srikanth raised his game to clinch three straight points and carve his name on the national title.

“I can’t express my feelings now. I dreamt about winning the national crown ever since I started playing badminton. For me this is just a start of my career and I aim to win many more titles in the future,” Srikanth said after the finals.

Results:

Women’s singles: 2-PV Sindhu (PSPB) bt 15-Rituparna Das (AP) 21-11, 21-17

Men’s singles: 5-K Srikanth (PSPB) bt 2-RMV Guru Sai Dutt (PSPB) 21-13, 22-20

Women’s doubles: 2-Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa (PSPB) bt 1-Pradnya Gadre/N Sikki Reddy (AAI) 21-17, 21-16

Men’s doubles: 1-Pranaav Chopra/Akshay Dewalkar (PSPB/AI) bt 2-Manu Atri/B Sumeet Reddy (AAI/AP) 21-19, 21-17

Mixed Doubles: 2-Arun Vishnu/Aparna Balan (PSPB) bt 1-K Tarun/Ashiwini Ponnappa (PSPB) 21-10, 21-17

Prajakta, Aarti win Bangladesh international challenge crown

Newly formed women’s doubles pairing of Prajakta Sawant and Aarti Sara Sunil bagged their second international women’s doubles title in only their third international appearance together when they clinched the Bangladesh Open International Challenge badminton tournament in Dhaka on Saturday.

Prajakta and Aarti, who played together on the international circuit for the first time in Bahrain International series and went on to win the title, did not need to break any sweat in the final in Dhaka when compatriots Dhanya Nair and Mohita Sahdev retired with the score reading 22-20, 15-4 in the favour of eventual champions.

While Prajakta and Aarti brought home their second title, singles specialist Saili Rane failed to overcome the challenge of top seed Hsiao Ma Pai of Chinese Taipei and lost 21-10, 21-13 in the women’s singles final.

Rituparna, Joshi bag junior national singles title

U-19 national champions
Aditya Joshi and Rituparna Das

 Rituparna Das ended G Ruthvika Shivani’s hopes of a second consecutive double crown with a straight games hammering in the u-19 girls singles final while second seed Aditya Joshi of Air India ended the Houdini act of Kerala’s Arun George to lift the u-19 boys title in the 38^th Junior National Badminton tournament here on Thursday.

The Kolkata girl, who now plays for Andhra Pradesh after shifting base to Hyderabad, proved too good for the defending champion to win 21-14, 21-7 to add the u-19 national title to the u-13 and u-17 national crowns she had won in the past and completed a double crown herself by also bagging the girls doubles title with J Meghana.

U-19 boys doubles champions
MR Arjun and Chirag Shetty with
BAI vice president TPS Puri and
coach Sanjeev Sachdeva

The encounter between the country’s two topmost juniors was expected to go down the wire but Rituparna never allowed her opponent to get a foot-hold in the match. She was deceptive at the net and came up with some timely drops to tackle the reach of the lanky Khamman girl, who had earlier got the better of Maharashtra’s Karishma Wadkar in the u-17 final.

Karishma, playing in her maiden national final, managed to push the defending champion in the first game but a few unforced errors at the crucial moment cost her dearly.

In the boy’s u-19 final, Arun who had staged improbable comebacks in the pre-quarterfinals and the semifinals began on the positive note but once Joshi got his rhythm going it was a one-way traffic.

The boy from Madhya Pradesh, who trains at the Prakash Padukone academy in Bangalore, kept Arun away from the net and used his big smash to good effect to kill the rallies and pocket the match 18-21, 21-12, 21-14 in 48 minutes.

In the u-17 boys singles final S Daniel Farid ended the dream run of B R Sankeerth 21-11, 21-14.

Results (finals):

BS U17

Daniel Farid S. (1), KTK, beat Sankeerth B. R. (9), KTK, 21-11, 21-14

GS U17

Ruthvika Shivani G. (2), AP, beat Karishma Wadkar (1), MAH, 21-19, 21-14

BS U19

Aditya Joshi (2), AI beat Arun George (3), KER, 18-21, 21-12, 21-14

GS U19

Rituparna Das (1), AP, beat Ruthvika Shivani G. (3), AP 21-14, 21-7

BD U17

Rohan Kapoor, DLI and Sourabh Sharma, HAR, beat Kapil Chaudhry and Chandrabhushan Tripathi,(3), UP, 21-10, 21-16

GD U-17

Mahima Aggarwal and Shikha Gautam, (3), KAR, beat Malvika JK and Ashna Roy, (1), KER 21-17, 21-11

BD U19

Arjun M. R., KER, and Chirag Shetty (5), MAH, beat Shlok Ramchandran and Sanyam Shukla (1), AI, 21-12, 19-21, 22-20

GD U19

Rituparna Das and Meghana J.  (3), AP, beat Vaishnavi Iyer, MAH, and Reshma Karthik (4), AI, 17-21, 21-9, 21-12

XD U19

Sanyam Shukla, AI, and Meghana J. (1), AP, beat Sankeerth B. R. and Mira Mahadevan, KTK, 21-11, 22-24, 21-7

Qualifier Mrunmayi registers double upsets on second day of junior nationals

Maharashtra’s Mrunmayi Saoji underlined her credentials as a fast improving player when she created an upset in the third round of the u-17 and u-19 girls singles categories on the second day of the 38^th Junior National Badminton Championship in Chandigarh on Monday.

Qualifier Mrunmayi, who trains in Nagpur under Robin Simon, had been in good form in the state championship and underlined her growing stature as a talented shuttler with a 21-15, 21-13 victory over Anoushka in the third round of the u-17 category and later came back to upset 10^th seed Anura Prabhudesai of Goa 8-21, 21-16, 21-19.

In the u-17 prequarterfinals, Mrunmayi will face 13^th seed V Harika of Andhra Pradesh, while top seed Rituparna Das awaits her in the u-19 event.

Elsewhere, defending champion and top seed Harsheel Dani of Air India was stretched to the decider by M Kanishq of Andhra Pradesh. The last time the two faced each other in the Sushant Chippalkati Memorial junior international meet, Kanishq had got the better of his senior opponent but the top seed kept his cool on Monday despite the qualifier launching a late charge.

Dani won 21-13, 18-21, 21-14 to set up a pre-quarterfinal clash against 13^th seed Harshit Aggarwal of Karnataka.

Important Results (third round):

BS U17

Daniel Farid S. (1), KTK, beat Mithun M., KTK, 21-13 21-12; Aarush Setia (15), DLI, beat Piyush Meena, RAJ, 17-21 21-16 21-14; Siril Varma A. S. S. (5), AP, beat Siddharth Pratap Singh, CG, 15-21 21-10 21-15; Chandra Kumar D., AP, beat Bodhit Joshi (11), UTR, 21-15 15-21 21-10; Talar Laa (4), ANP, beat Sribalaji S., PY, 23-21 21-14; Kanishq M. (6), AP, beat Dharma Sekaran K., TN, 21-12 21-11; Chirag Shetty (7), MAH, beat Satish Naidu J., AP, 21-16 21-14: Lakshya Sen (16), UTR, beat Kartikey Gulshan Kumar, DLI, 21-17 21-15: Chirag Sen (3), AI, beat Kartik Jindal, HAR, 21-19 21-12: Rahul Yadav C. (2), AP, beat Harsh Jagdhane, MAH, 21-8 21-16 .

GS U17

Karishma Wadkar (1), MAH, beat Priyanka Kumawat, RAJ, 21-16 21-6: Vrushali G. (10), AP, beat Nikita Singh, JAR, 21-6 21-5; Shriyanshi Pardeshi (3), AI, beat Sri Krishna Priya K., AP, 21-12 21-15: Ashmita Chaliha (14), ASM, beat Diksha Choudhary, CG, 21-11 21-11; Shikha Gautam (8), KTK, beat Santoshi Hasini R., AP, 20-22 21-19 21-14; Riya Mookerjee, UP, beat Uttejitha Rao Ch. (11), AP, 21-16 22-20; Mahima Aggarwal (9), KTK, beat Bhavya Rishi, DLI, 21-17 21-17; Kuhoo Garg (5), UTR, beat Anshu Sharma, MP, 21-10 21-19; Harika V.  (13), AI, beat Shruthi S., TN, 21-16 21-19; Mrunmayi Saoji, MAH, beat Anoushka Parikh (4), GUJ, 21-15 21-13; Anura Prabhudesai (12), GOA, beat Ningshi Block Hazarika, ASM, 21-9 21-16; Kanika Kanwal (6), DLI, beat Muskan Sohi, CHG, 21-15 20-22 21-11; Ruby Singh (16), CG, beat Kalpita Sawant, MAH, 21-17 21-19; Ruthvika Shivani G. (2), AP, beat Jasmine Sahu, ORI, 21-1 21-5 .

BS U19

Harsheel Dani (1), AI, beat Kanishq M., AP, 21-13 18-21 21-14; Harshit Aggarwal (13), KTK, beat Yogesh Rajgopalan, TN, 21-3 21-7; Kaushal Dharmamer (5), MAH, beat Aarush Setia, DLI, 21-9 21-13; Arun George (3), KER, beat Kashish, PNB, 21-12 21-13; Ansal Yadav (8), UP, beat Upendra C. , AP, 21-17 21-14 .

GS U19

Rituparna Das (1), AP, beat Lalita Dahiya, HAR, 21-9 21-10; Mrunmayi Saoji, MAH, beat Anura Prabhudesai (10), GOA, 8-21 21-16 21-19; Vaishnavi Bhale, MAH, beat Shruthi S., TN, 21-16 21-13; Karishma Wadkar (11), MAH, beat Mahima Aggarwal, KTK, 21-16 21-6; Rasika Raje (4), MAH, beat Ashmita Chaliha, ASM, 14-21 21-8 25-23; Malvika J. K. (13), KER, beat Anoushka Parikh, GUJ, 21-18 12-21 21-12; Shriyanshi Pardeshi (5), AI, beat Vrushali G., AP, 21-15 21-17; Sanchali Dasgupta (12), UP, beat Yania Taring, ANP, 21-11 5-0 Ret..; Kanika Kanwal, DLI, beat Vaishnavi Iyer, MAH, 21-19 21-16; Kuhoo Garg (7), UTR, beat Yajum Laa, ANP, 22-20 21-16; Shikha Gautam (16), KTK, beat Santoshi Hasini R., AP, 21-14 15-21 21-16; Ruthvika Shivani G. (3), AP, beat Harshita Chaliha, ASM, 21-6 21-8; Sri Krishna Priya K. (14), AP, beat Shenan Christian, GUJ, 21-8 21-9; Sara Naqvi (8), UP, beat Mira Mahadevan, KTK, 21-15 21-10; Revati Devasthale (9), MAH, beat Agna Anto, KER, 21-7 21-12; Reshma Karthik (2), AI, beat Aditi Anand, TN, 21-14 21-11 .

Arun saves six match points to reach junior nationals final

Third seed Arun George of Kerala saved six match points before upsetting top seed and defending champion Harsheel Dani of Air India to reach the u-19 singles final in the 38^th Junior National Badminton championship in Chandigarh on Wednesday.

Arun, who had staged a similar comeback in the pre-quarterfinals on Tuesday, made the most of the next exchanges in the business end of the match to win the 48 minute encounter 17-21, 21-16, 25-23.

Till that come back, Arun looked out of sorts after taking a medical break while trailing 15-19 in the decider but showed the tenacity and presence of mind to hang in and force his opponent to play a pattern that benefited him in the final analysis.

He first saved four straight match points to level the score at 20-all and then wasted one match point himself at 23-22 before Dani pushed his net lift out to trigger a wild celebration from the player and his coaching staff.

Arun will now face second seed and Shushant Chippalkati junior international champion Aditya Joshi of Air India who rallied from a disastrous first game to beat fourth seed Arsalan Naqvi of 11-21, 21-12, 21-16.

In the girls section, defending junior national champion Ruthvika Shivani stayed on course for a double crown after reaching the u-17 and u-19 finals. In the u-17 semifinal, the Gopichand Academy trainee ended the dream run of Maharashtra qualifier Mrunmayi Saoji 21-7, 21-13 and then came back to defeat second seed Reshma Karthik of Karnataka 21-9, 21-13

Ruthvika will now face top seed Karishma Wadkar of Maharashtra in the u-17 final. Wadkar, who trains in the Shuttlecraze badminton academy, staved off a late comeback from Karnataka’s Shikha Gautam 21-11, 22-20 to reach her maiden national final.

The u-19 girls will see Ruthvika taking on Rituparna Das, who defeated Maharashtra’s Rasika Raje 21-12, 21-13.

Results:

BS U17

Quarter Finals: Daniel Farid S. (1), KTK, beat Siril Varma A. S. S. (5), AP, 21-9 21-17; Kanishq M. (6), AP, beat Talar Laa (4), ANP, 21-15 21-15; Chirag Sen (3), AI, beat Chirag Shetty (7), MAH, 21-10 21-18; Sankeerth B. R. (9), KTK, beat Ansal Yadav (8), UP, 21-5 21-23 21-14 .

Semi Finals

Daniel Farid S. (1), KTK, beat Kanishq M. (6), AP, 21-19 18-21 21-18; Sankeerth B. R. (9), KTK, beat Chirag Sen (3), AI, 14-21 21-15 21-12 .

GS U17

Quarter Finals

Karishma Wadkar (1), MAH, beat Vrushali G. (10), AP, 21-19 19-21 21-15; Shikha Gautam (8), KTK, beat Ashmita Chaliha (14), ASM, 21-16 21-16; Mrunmayi Saoji, MAH, beat Mahima Aggarwal (9), KTK, 17-21 21-15 23-21; Ruthvika Shivani G. (2), AP, beat Kanika Kanwal (6), DLI, 21-15 21-14.

Semi Finals

Karishma Wadkar (1), MAH, beat Shikha Gautam (8), KTK, 21-11 22-20; Ruthvika Shivani G. (2), AP, beat Mrunmayi Saoji, MAH, 21-7 21-13.

BS U19

Quarter Finals

Harsheel Dani (1), AI, beat Kaushal Dharmamer (5), MAH, 21-16 21-12; Arun George (3), KER, beat Talar Laa (10), ANP, 21-16 21-18; Arshalan Naqvi (4), UP, beat Shyam Prasad (11), KER, 21-19 21-15; Aditya Joshi (2), AI, beat Rahul Yadav C., AP, 22-20 14-21 21-14 .

Semi Finals

Arun George (3), KER, beat Harsheel Dani (1), AI, 17-21 21-16 25-23; Aditya Joshi (2), AI beat Arshalan Naqvi (4), UP 11-21, 21-12, 21-16

GS U19

Quarter Finals

Rituparna Das (1), AP, beat Karishma Wadkar (11), MAH, 21-13 21-9; Rasika Raje (4), MAH, beat Shriyanshi Pardeshi (5), AI, 21-17 23-21; Ruthvika Shivani G. (3), AP, beat Kanika Kanwal, DLI, 21-14 21-12; Reshma Karthik (2), AI, beat Sara Naqvi (8), UP, 21-13 21-12

Semi Finals

Rituparna Das (1), AP, beat Rasika Raje (4), MAH, 21-12, 21-13; Ruthvika Shivani G. (3), AP, beat Reshma Karthik (2), AI, 21-9, 21-13

BD U19

Quarter Finals

Shlok Ramchandran and Sanyam Shukla (1), AI, beat Arun George, KER, and Aditya Joshi (6), AI, 21-16 21-17; Rohan Kapoor, DLI, and Saurabh Sharma, HAR, beat Chaitanya K. P. and Gangadhara Rao V. (4), AP, 18-21 21-14 23-21; Arjun M. R., KER, and Chirag Shetty (5), MAH, beat Kawaldeep Singh and Rupinder Singh (3), CHG, 15-21 21-16 21-13; Sanidhya Bandoont and Vinay Kumar Singh, UP, beat Naveen M. and Vembarasan V.  (8), TN, 21-13 21-16

GD U19

Quarter Finals

Sruthi K. P.  and Farha Mather (1), KER, beat Pooja D. and Sonika Sai P. , AP, 21-19 21-15; Rituparna Das and Meghana J.  (3), AP, beat Ahillya Harjani and Rasika Raje (6), MAH, 21-11 21-19; Vaishnavi Iyer, MAH, and Reshma Karthik (4), AI, beat Sanchali Dasgupta and Pragya Rai, UP, 21-6 20-22 21-16; Revati Devasthale and Karishma Wadkar, MAH, beat Sudha Kalyani D. and Archana M.  (2), AP, 17-21 21-18 27-25.

XD U19

Semi Finals

Sanyam Shukla, AI, and Meghana J. (1), AP, beat Chandrabhushan Tripathi, UP, and Anushka Kuvelkar, GOA, 21-5 21-16; Sankeerth B. R. and Mira Mahadevan, KTK, beat Kabir Kanzarkar and Ahillya Harjani, MAH, 19-21 21-17 21-14.