Kashyap wins Syed Modi title

P Kashyap ended India’s wait for a Grand Prix gold title in the men’s singles category when he got the better of Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand to lift the Syed Modi title in Lucknow on Sunday.

The world number 30, who was trailing his Thai opponent 3-1 in head-to-head record before the summit clash, kept his nerves to win the final 21-19, 14-21, 21-17 in one hour and 11 minutes to become the first player to lift an international title of such a stature.

Only Saina Nehwal and the mixed doubles combination of Jwala Gutta and V Diju have won a GP gold title since the new tournament structure started in 2009.

The last time any Indian came close to winning a Grand Prix title was in 2008 when Chetan Anand went down in the final of the India Open in Hyderabad against Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana.

However, a maiden GP gold title eluded P V Sindhu as the second seed went down 21-15, 18-21, 21-18 in a marathon summit clash against seventh seed Lindaweni Fanetri of Indonesia.

Saina’s withdrawal takes sheen away from Syed Modi tourney

On a day when Pratul Joshi created the biggest upset of his badminton career by beating former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, it was yet another pull out of Saina Nehwal that would dominate the headlines at the Dr K L Garg - Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament on Wednesday.

The world number 3, who reportedly took the court only because of the insistence from her sponsor Sahara and Badminton Association of India, played for just under half an hour and was holding two match points against Ksenia Polikarpova of Russia when she clinched her leg and conceded the first round encounter.

Saina’s withdrawal immediately let the tongues wagging as this is the second time in a row that the London Olympic bronze medallist has disappointed the badminton fans in Lucknow. Last year, Saina came to the Uttar Pradesh capital but withdrew from her first round encounter citing fever and fatigue.

While all these reasons are disputable and there is a vertical divide among BAI officials for and against Saina, the matter of fact is that the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist does not benefit at all from playing in such tournaments as she now only concentrates on the 12-tournament Super Series circuit.

According to the ranking calculation norms of the Badminton World Federation, the top-10 results of any player are only calculated towards the final ranking and hence Saina prefers to train and prepare for these tournaments rather than play in GP Gold and GP events.

While the Indian ace is absolutely right in following this course of action as a professional, the BAI officials are angry that she is “not doing her bit” for Indian badminton. And they have a point.

The world’s top players, including men’s world number one Lee Chong Wei, multiple Olympic gold medallist and world champion Lin Dan and others play the GP Gold events in their respective countries despite the events not adding any value to their career.

On the other hand, Saina has refrained from playing any domestic tournament or an international meet apart from the India Super Series in the last few years.

It is an open secret that the mere presence of the 22-year-old makes badminton lovers flock to the tournament venue and that definitely adds value to the tournament.

The BAI has already taken a decision at its last AGM to make it mandatory for players to play at least two domestic ranking tournaments and the senior nationals. It would be interesting to see whether the decision makers in BAI have the courage to force Saina to follow suit.

Badminton Addicts Doubles challenge at Bombay Gymkhana

Bombay Gymkhana would host the state level BG Yonex Badminton Addicts Doubles Challenge at the gymkhana pavilion on December 8-9.

Conceptualised as a fun tournament that pits the state’s best shuttlers with some of the veterans in a round-robin format, the competition will see 16 pairs vying for the title and a prize purse of Rs 12,000 over the two days.

The 16 pairs have been divided into four groups of four pairs each in an all-play-all format with the top two pairs in each group qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Pairs: 

Ayaz Bilawala/Shailesh Daga; Amol Shah/Nigel D’Sa; Mayur Tawade/Ameya Joshi; Aditya Pandya/Anil Nair; Mangirish Palekar/Abhishek Parikh; Abhidnya Sawant/Prasad Shetty; Shlok Ramchandran/Kaushal Dharmamer; Vignesh Devlekar/Sudhanshu Medshikar; Firoj Mulani/Anmol Beharani; Arjit Bose/Akshat Patil; Sanket Shirvade/Amit Khadgi; Deepak Jetley/Harsh Jhaveri; Jatin Agarwal/Naval Bir Kumar; Vilas Kuwale/Yogesh Padukone; Prashant Bahatare/Abhishek Kulkarni; Jishnu Sanyal/Eshan Naqvi

Trupti reaches Welsh international quarters

Qualifier Trupti Murgunde upset sixth seed Akvile Stapusaityte of Lithuania 21-19, 21-12 to move into the quarterfinals of the Welsh International badminton tournament in Cardiff, Wales on Friday.

The former national champion, who is looking to make a comeback after an injury induced break, had strolled through the qualifying rounds.

But the world number 297 will now face a stiff challenge from Switzerland’s Nicole Schaller for a berth in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, it was an forgettable outing for all other Indian contenders with Prakash Jolly, Velavan Vasudevan and Jacqueline Rose Kunnath falling in the first round.

Shrikant, Guru in Macau Open semifinals

Nationals semifinalist K Shrikant continued his dream run in the Macau Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with a come from behind victory over Nan Wei of Hong Kong to book a semifinal berth.
The Gopichand Badminton Academy trainee fought back gamely despite going down in the first game to win the quarterfinal encounter 16-21, 21-19, 21-19 in just over an hour to set up a last four clash against Chinese Huan Gao.
Also advancing to the last four stage was 12th seed and Shrikanth's academy mate RMV Guru Sai Dutt who hammered Yan Kit Chan of Hong Kong 21-11, 21-14. He will now face China's Yuekun Chen for a spot in the final.
However, it was curtains for India in the women's doubles and mixed doubles competition with Ashwini Ponnappa and K Tarun going down 21-9, 21-13 against the top seeded Indonesian combination of Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir in the mixed doubles quarterfinals.
In the women's doubles last eight match, Ashwini and her new partner Pradnya Gadre failed to show the required consistency and lost 21-16, 12-21, 21-15 against Indonesia's Komala Dewi and Jenna Gozali.

India retains Super Series hosting rights

Despite a not-so-impressive organisation of the Super Series in the first two years, India has managed to retain the hosting rights of the India Open for another four years starting from 2014.

The BWF committee had passed quite a few strictures against the teething problems faced by the organisers during the first two editions and there was speculation that India may not be among the hosts from the next cycle.

But when BWF President Dr Kang Young Joong announced the list of 12 hosts after the Council meeting in Bangkok on Friday, the China Masters was scrapped to ensure that all countries host only one Super Series.

The China Masters Super Series has now been replaced by the Australian Super Series with Korea Super Series Premier being downgraded to a Super Series.

In other decisions, the world body decided to implement the line call technology from the 2014 season for the Super Series events with the players being allowed to challenge a certain number of decisions, rules for which would be subsequently formed.

The Council also decided to modify the draw process for the doubles event for the forthcoming Olympic Games in the wake of the match-fixing controversy that engulfed the London Games.

According to the new format, the second placed teams in each group would now be drawn by lots after the end of the preliminary stage to avoid any kind of pre-determined placing by teams in the knock out rounds.

Indians impress in Macau Open pre-quarters

Former junior national champion RMV Guru Sai Dutt lead the charge as the Indian contingent registered an 100 per cent win record in the pre-quarterfinals of the Macau Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Macau on Thursday.

Guru upset seventh seed Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia 21-13, 21-18 to set up a quarterfinal encounter against the experienced Yan Kit Chan of Hong Kong in the men’s singles event.

His academy mate in the Gopichand Badminton Academy, K Shrikant also continued his bull run in the tournament with a 21-17, 15-21, 21-12 victory over Malaysia’s Choong Hann Wong to reach his maiden quarterfinal of a GP gold event. He will now face Nan Wei of Hong Kong.

In the doubles events, world championship bronze medallist Ashwini Ponnappa advanced to the quarterfinals of both the women’s and mixed doubles events.

In the women’s doubles, Ashwini and Pradnya Gadre defeated the Thai combination of Rodjana Chuthabunditkul and Chanida Julrattanamanee 25-23, 21-19 to set up a last eight encounter with Indonesia’s Komala Dewi and Jenna Gozali.

Result:

Men singles: 12-RMV Guru Sai Dutt bt Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (INA) 21-13, 21-18; K Shrikanth bt Choong Hann Wong (MAS) 21-17, 15-21, 21-12

Women doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa/Pradnya Gadre bt Rodjana Chuthabunditkul/Chanida Julrattanamanee (THA) 25-23, 21-19

Mixed doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa/K Tarun bt Chi-Lin Wang/Hsiao Ma Pai (TPE) 21-17, 22-20

Srikanth, Guru in Macau Open pre-quarters

K Srikanth and RMV Guru Sai Dutt booked their berths in the pre-quarterfinals of the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Macau with facile wins, while even the doubles combinations gave a good account of themselves on Wednesday.

Srikanth, who had upset ninth seed Alamsyah Yunus of Indonesia in the first round, hammered Min Ki Kim of Korea 21-13, 21-11, while Guru thrashed Po Wei Cheng of Chinese Taipei 21-10, 21-14.

In the women’s doubles section, the new combination of Ashwini Ponnappa and Pradnya Gadre upset second seed Lok Yan Poon and Ying Suet Tse 21-19, 21-19 to advance to the second round.

Results:

Men’s singles: K Srikanth bt Min Ki Kim (KOR) 21-13, 21-11; RMV Guru Sai Dutt bt Po Wei Cheng (TPE) 21-10, 21-14

Men’s doubles: Pranav Chopra/Akshay Dewalkar lost to 7-Gideon Fernaldi/Agripinna Putra (INA) 21-8, 21-16; K Tarun/Arun Vishnu bt Evgenij Dremin/Sergey Lunev 12-21, 21-18, 21-17

Women’s singles: Tanvi Lad lost to 5-Hsiao Ma Pai (TPE) 21-11, 21-17; Arundhati  Pantawane lost to 8-Adrianti Firdasari 21-19, 21-15

Women’s doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa/Pradnya Gadre bt 2- Lok Yan Poon/Ying Suet Tse (HKG) 21-19, 21-19; N Sikki Reddy/Aparna Balan lost to 6-Vivian Hoo/Khe Wei Woon (MAS) 21-11, 21-18

Mixed Doubles: K Tarun/Ashwini Ponnappa bt Thitipong Lapoe/Peeraya Munkitamorn (THA) 21-18, 21-17; Aparna Balan/Arun Vishnu lost to Min Chun Liao/Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE) 16-21, 23-21, 22-20; Akshay Dewalkar/Pradnya Gadre lost to Joe Wu (NZ)/Ya Lan Chang (TPE) 3-4 retd; Pranav Chopra/N Sikki Reddy lost to Yen Jui Lin/Chi Ya Cheng (TPE) 21-19, 11-21, 21-19

Anand Pawar wins Scottish International title

Mumbai boy Anand Pawar recovered impressively from a first game reversal to beat Japan's Kazumasa Sakai to lift the men's singles title in the Scottish International badminton tournament in Glasgow on Sunday.
The world number 55, who had not dropped a game in the competition so far, did not start well against the 10th seed Japan and it looked like Pawar was out of sorts till midway through the second game.
But once the seventh seed found his rhythm there was no stopping the eventual champion. He raced through the second game. Even in the third set, both players were going neck-and-neck till 15-15 before raced ahead to clinch the match and the title in just under an hour.
"I was not playing my best. but I still managed to fight it out and mostly importantly win the match," Pawar said on his facebook feed after winning the title.
Pawar had won the French International title back in April, ending a two year drought of international titles.

Vrushali bags double crown, Kaushal win's u-19 boys title in Gautam Thakkar memorial

It was a ‘Super’ Sunday for Andhra Pradesh’s upcoming shuttler G Vrushali. The 14-year-old Vrushali showed great courage as she overcame pain from a sore left foot to defeat her higher ranked opponents to complete a grand double, winning both the girl’s under-17 and under-19 singles crowns, in the Rs 10 lakhs prize-money 2nd Gautam Thakkar Memorial All India Junior Masters Prize Money Badminton Tournament. Incidentally these were her maiden major victories in the two age categories.
Vrushali, a class 10 student from the DAV Public School, Hyderabad, first came back from a game down to beat third seed Malvika J.K of Kerala in the under-17 final to win 11-21, 21-15, 21-19 in 50 minutes.
In the under-19 final, the third-seeded Vrushali scored a stunning straight games win over top seed Riya Pillai of Maharashtra. The triumph in the under-17 final proved to be the perfect boost for the young Vrushali, who waltzed to a fluent 21-7, 21-13 victory in just 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s third seed Kaushal Dharmamer exhibited remarkable fighting qualities to record a come from behind win against fourth seed Talar Laa of Air India in the boy’s under-17 singles final. Kaushal after losing the opening game rather tamely, put up a much improved performance and went on to comfortably win the next two games to complete a deserving 10-21, 21-8, 21-15 victory.
Top seed Rohit Yadav (AAI) claimed the boy’s under-19 title defeating seventh seed Arshalan Naqvi (UP) 21-16, 21-16 in 45 minutes.

Results (final):

Girls’ under-17 singles: Vrushali G. (AP) beat Malvika J.K. (Ker) 11-21, 21-15, 21-19.
Girls’ under-19 singles: Vrushali G (AP) beat Riya Pillai (Mah) 21-7, 21-13
Boys’ under-17 singles: Kaushal Dharmamer (Mah) beat Talar Laa (AI) 10-21, 21-8, 21-15.
Boys’ under-19 singles: Rohit Yadav (AAI) beat Arshalan Naqvi (UP) 21-16, 21-16.

Vrushali in line for grand double in Gautam Thakkar memorial tournament

G Vrushali of Andhra Pradesh was in her elements and stayed in line for a grand double. The shuttler reached the final of both the girl’s singles under-17 and under-19 events in the Rs 10 lakhs prize-money 2nd Gautam Thakkar Memorial All India Junior Masters Prize Money Badminton Tournament, played at the Bombay Gymkhana, on Saturday.
Seeded third in the under-19 category, Vrushali got the better of Maharashtra fourth seed Shruti Mundada in straight games 21-15, 21-16.
Earlier in the afternoon, Vrushali produced a remarkable performance to stun top seed Sudha Kalyani also from Andhra Pradesh 21-17, 21-9.
In the boy’s competition, Talar Laa of Air India seeded fourth recorded a shock win in three games against top seed Arshalan Naqvi of Uttar Pradesh in the under-17 semi-final.
Third seed Kaushal Dharmamer kept Maharashtra’s hopes alive, when he stunned second seed Daniel Farid S. of Karnataka 21-18, 21-15 in the second semi-final.
Results:
Girls’ under-17 singles (semi-finals):
Vrushali G. (AP) beat Sudha Kalyani (AP) 21-17, 21-19; Malvika J.K. (Ker) beat Anoushka Parikh (Guj) 21-16, 21-18.

Boys’ under-17 singles (semi-finals): Talar Laa (AI) beat Arshalan Naqvi (UP) 21-14, 10-21, 21-19; Kaushal Dharmamer (Mah) beat Daniel Farid S. (Ktk) 21-18, 21-15.
Girls’ under-19 singles (semi-finals): Vrushali G (AP) beat Shruti Mundada (Mah) 21-15, 21-16.

(Courtesy -- Gordon D'Costa)

Anand Pawar in Scottish International final

Mumbai boy Anand Pawar reached the men’s singles final of the Scottish International Badminton tournament in Glasgow on Saturday without dropping a game.

The seventh seed Indian hammered Denmark’s Rune Ulsing 21-13, 21-9 in the semifinal to set up a summit clash with 10^th seed Kazumasa Sakai of Japan.

Arshalan in two semi-finals

Arshalan Naqvi of Uttar Pradesh made the semi-finals of both, the boy’s under-17 and under-16 singles categories in the Rs 10 lakhs prize-money 2nd Gautam Thakkar Memorial All India Junior Masters Prize Money Badminton Tournament, played at the Bombay Gymkhana, on Friday.

In the under-17 quarter-finals, Arshalan, the top seed recovered from the loss of the first game to hand Sipani Sahil Naqvi a 23-25, 21-17, 21-12 defeat.

Later, Arshalan seeded seventh in the under-19 event overcame sixth seed Talar Laa of Air India in straight games at 21-16, 22-20.

In the under-17 quarters, Naqvi found the going tough initially as Sahil counter-attacked aggressively and engaged the number one seed in long rallies. But, Naqvi seemed unfazed even after dropping the first game. Instead he raised the level of his game and started to call the shots before closing out the match to book his place in the semi-finals.

Talar Laa of Air India quelled the challenge from Andhra Pradesh’s Chaityana K.P. 21-17, 21-19 in the other boys’ under-17 quarter-final match.

Maharashtra’s third seed Kaushal Dharmamer and second seed Daniel Farid S. of Karnataka also progressed to the semi-finals. Dharmamer romped to a straight games 21-18, 21-9 win over Harshit Agarwal of Karnataka, while Farid traded the opening two games with Sumit Sharma of Punjab, before the latter after trailing 16-21, 21-9, 13-6 conceded the match due to an ankle injury.

Results (quarterfinals)

Boys’ under-17 singles: Talar Laa (AI) bt Chaitanya K.P. 21-17, 21-19; Kaushal Dharmamer (Mah) bt Harshit Agarwal (Ktk) 21-18, 21-9; Arshalan Naqvi (UP) bt Sipani Sahil (Ktk) 23-25, 21-17, 21-12, Daniel Farid S. (Ktk) bt Sumit Sharma (Pjb) 16-21, 21-18, 13-6 (retired).

Boys’ under-19 singles: Rohit Yadav (AP) bt Harsheel Dani (AI) 21-16, 21-18; Shreyansh Jaiswal (CG) bt Aditya Joshi 15-21, 21-9, 21-16; Shlok Ramchandran (Mah) bt Hemangendra Babu T. (AP) 22-20, 21-18, Arshalan Naqvi (UP) bt Talar Laa (AI) 21-16, 22-20.

Girls’ under-17 singles: Vrushali G. (AP) bt Vibhuti Agarwal (Mah) 21-13, 21-10; Anoushka Parikh (Guj) bt Anokhi Haria 21-12, 21-16,Sudha Kalyani (AP) bt Pooja M. (AP) 21-15, 23-21, Malvika J.K. (Ker) bt Revati Devasthale (Mah) 24-22, 21-11.

Courtesy Gordon D'Costa 

Anand Pawar lone Indian survivor after round 1 in Scottish Open

Seventh seed Anand Pawar was the lone Indian survivor after the opening round of the Scottish International Badminton tournament being played at Glasgow on Thursday.

The world number 55 thrashed Sam Dobson of England 21-14, 21-7 in the first round to set up a second round clash against Bulgaria’s Blagovest Kisyov.

However, India’s challenge in the women’s singles withered away in the first round itself with national champion Sayali Gokhale, former national champion Trupti Murgunde and Jacqueline Rose Kunnath going down rather sheepishly.

Results (first round):

Men’s singles

7-Anand Pawar bt Sam Dobson (ENG) 21-14, 21-7

Prakash Jolly lost to Rasmus Fladberg (DEN) 21-14, 21-13

Women’s singles

Jacqueline Rose Kunnath lost to 11-Beatriz Corrales (ESP) 21-7, 7-2 retd

Sayali Gokhale lost to Sarah Walker (ENG) 24-22, 7-21, 21-17

Trupti Murgunde lost to 2-Carolina Marin (ESP) 21-17, 21-8

Indian challenge ends in Hong Kong Open

After the opening day high, India's challenge in the Hong Kong Open Super Series came to an abrupt end on Thursday with all the singles and doubles players making a quite exit.
While Ajay Jayaram had a difficult task of beating world number one Lee Chong Wei of China, P Kashyap had to concede his second round encounter against Tommy Sugiarto due to a suspected abdomen injury.
But it was the loss of third seed Saina Nehwal in straight games that came as a surprise.
Saina, who is nursing a knee injury, was up against another China’s Lin Wang, who is making a comeback after a serious knee injury.
Lin dominated the net exchanges in the first game and once she got the measure of Saina gave the Indian no chance of a comeback to win 21-19, 21-15.
In the men’s singles, Ajay ran close to an opponent who had shattered his Olympic qualification dream in April when the Indian lost to the world number one at the same stage. He once again showed grit and gumption in pushing Chong Wei till the end. But the experience of the London Olympic silver medallist finally made the difference in the 21-18, 21-19 victory.
Speaking to baddyindia.blogspot.com from Hong Kong, Ajay said he was satisfied with the way he played but unhappy that he could not convert his chances.
"A missed tap and some good smashes in the end cost me the first game," said Ajay, who also lost the second game after recovering from 11-4 to draw level at 19-19.
"I was much more patient and controlled the net well to claw back to 19-19. But then I made a bad decision of flicking my serve which he finished off with a big smash," he added.

Results:

Men’s singles
Ajay Jayaram lost to 1-Lee Chong Wei (MAS) 21-18, 21-19
P Kashyap lost to Tommy Sugiarto (INA) 11-6 (retd)
Men’s doubles
Pranav Chopra/Akshay Dewalkar lost to 2-Yun Cai/Haifeng Fu 23-21, 19-21, 21-6
Women’s singles
3-Saina Nehwal lost to Lin Wang (CHN) 21-19, 21-15
Women’s doubles
Pradnya Gadre/Ashwini Ponnappa lost to Duanganong Aroonkesorn/Kunchala Vorvichitchaikul 21-17, 21-18
Mixed Doubles
Pranav Chopra/N Sikki Reddy lost to 1-Chen Xu/Jin Ma 21-16, 21-10

Hong Kong Open: Ajay, Kashyap register upset victories in round one

The opening round of the Hong Kong Super Series turned out to be fruitful day for the Indian contingent with their men’s singles stars Ajay Jayaram and P Kashyap recording upset victories to move into the second round.
Ajay got the better of last week’s China Super Series Premier finalist Zhengming Wang 22-20, 23-21 while Kashyap saved a match point before toppling seven seed Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark 24-22, 20-22, 22-20.
The world number 27 Ajay, wasted four game points in the first game and then saved two in the second before winning the 36 minute encounter against an opponent ranked 10 places above him.
"At game point, he started catching me with his smashes on my body and it was difficult to get good length with the drift. Also I got nervous when I lost a couple of points," he told baddyindia.blogspot.com from Hong Kong.
Wang had beaten P Kashyap, who had beaten world number three Chen Long earlier this year, in the quarterfinals of the China Open Super Series premier last week.
Later, Kashyap showed how close the race for India’s top spot is when he kept his nerves to win the first round battle in just over an hour.
The diminutive Indian dominated the back court encounters and it were smashes that saw him through against the Dane. Even Kashyap wasted four game points in the first game and saved two in the second before the match went in to a decider. He will now face Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia in the second round.
In the day’s other matches, world number three Saina Nehwal hammered Indonesia’s Aprilla Yuswandari 22-20, 21-8 in her first match after returning from an injury break.
The Denmark Super Series Premier champion had opted out of the China Open to nurse her injured knee and was a bit rusty in the opening game. But once she got in the groove, she ensured that her Indonesian opponent had no chance of a fight back.
Saina will now face former world champion Lin Wang, who is on her comeback trail after injury.

Results:

Men’s singles:
Ajay Jayaram bt Zhengming Wang (CHN) 22-20, 23-21
P Kashyap vs 7-Jan O Jorgensen (DEN) 24-22, 20-22, 22-20
Men’s doubles:
K Tarun/Arun Vishnu lost to Chris Adcock/Andrew Ellis (ENG) 21-18, 21-14
Manu Attri/B Sumeeth Reddy lost to Alvent Yulianto Chandra/Markis Kido (INA) 11-21, 21-11, 21-15
Pranav Chopra/Akshay Dewalkar bt Hafiz Faisal/Putra Eka Rhoma (INA) 21-16, 21-23, 21-17
Women’s singles:
3-Saina Nehwal bt Aprilla Yuswandari (INA) 22-20, 21-8
P V Sindhu lost to Belaetrix Manuputi (INA) 21-12, 18-21, 21-15
Women’s Doubles
Aparna Balan/Sikki Reddy lost to 2-Xiaoli Wang/Yang (F) Yu (INA) 21-3, 21-7
Pradnya Gadre/Ashwini Ponnappa bt Audrey Fontaine/Emilie Lefel (FRA) 21-10, 21-16
Mixed Doubles
K Tarun/Ashwini Ponnappa lost to 1-Chen Xu/Jin Ma 21-15, 21-16
Pranav Chopra/Sikki Reddy bt Phillip Chew/Jamie Subandhi (USA) 21-19, 21-15
Akshay Dewalkar/Pradnya Gadre lost to Fran Kurniawan/Shendy Puspa Irawati (INA) 21-18, 23-21
Arun Visnhu/Aparna Balan lost to Riky Widianto/Puspita Richi Dili 21-13, 21-11

Ruthvika bags triple crown; Dani, Joshi share boys singles spoils in junior nationals

Harsheel Dani, Aditya Joshi and Ruthvika Shivani continued to show that they are the future of Indian badminton by bagging the singles titles in both the u-17 and u-19 category of the Junior National Badminton tournament in Imphal.
Gopichand Academy trainee Ruthvika Shivani claimed a triple crown winning the under-19 singles and doubles title and the under-17 singles title for a cent per cent win record in the tournament.
In the boy’s section, Dani and Joshi, who were also doubles partners till they decided to concentrate only on singles last year, faced each other in both the finals and shared the spoils with the latter winning the under-19 crown and Joshi claiming the under-17 title.
Both the matches went on for over an hour with no player willing to give an inch.

Results: U-17 

Boys Singles: Aditya Joshi bt Harsheel Dani 14-21, 21-5, 28-26
Boys doubles: Sanmay Shukla/V Gangadhar Rao bt DBS Chandrakumar/M Kanishq 21-16, 21-13
Girls singles: Ruthvika Shivani bt Reshma Karthik 21-13, 21-23, 21-16
Girls doubles: KP Shruti/Farha Mather bt Reshma Karthik/Sanjana Santosh 21-19, 21-19

U-19

Boys singles: Harsheel Dani bt Aditya Joshi 21-19, 18-21, 21-17
Boys doubles: G Gopi Raju/T Hemanagendra Babu bt Shyam Prasad/Shlok Ramchandran 21-16, 21-16
Girls singles: Ruthvika Shivani bt Rituparna Das 21-17, 21-5
Girls doubles: Ruthvika Shivani/Poorvisha S Ram bt J Meghana/K Maneesha 21-10, 21-12
Mixed doubles: T Hemanagendrababu/J Meghana bt G Gopi Raju/Poorvisha S Ram 21-18, 23-21

Kashyap out of China Open

India's challenge in the China Open Super Series Premier in Shanghai came to an end with P Kashyap succumbing to the guile of Zhengming Wang of China 21-17, 21-7 in the quarterfinals.
The London Olympics quarterfinalist couldn't be faulted for the effort he put in during the 34 minute encounter. But Wang was too good for the Indian.
Kashyap began on a promising note, matching his opponent stroke for stroke and even using his deceptive flicks to score a few points.
But slowly but surely Wang began to take control of the match with his smash-tap routine fetching him points in plenty at the business end of the first game.
The second game was mostly a one way affair with Kashyap showing sparks of brilliance during a few points but never enough to challenge the might of the Chinese opponent.

China Open: Kashyap reaches quarters

London Olympic quarterfinalist P Kashyap saved a match point before beating seventh seed Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam 12-21, 22-20, 21-14 to reach the quarterfinals of the China Open Super Series Premier in Shanghai on Thursday.
The Gopichand Badminton Academy trainee faced a match point in the second game at 19-20. But he not only saved the match point but went on to take the next two points to take the match in the decider, which he won relatively easily to set up a last eight clash against local hope Zhengming Wang.
However, it was curtains for India in all other events with mixed doubles combination of Pranav Chopra and Sikki Reddy and men's doubles pairing of Arun Vishnu and K Tarun falling in the second round.

China Open: Only Kashyap survives first day mayhem

The opening day of the China Open Super Series Premier turned out to be a forgettable day for the Indian contingent with only P Kashyap surviving the first round.

The London Olympics quarterfinalist got the better of Sweden’s Henri Hurskainen 21-15, 21-15 to set up a second round clash against seventh seed Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam, whom he had defeated in the group stages of the Olympic Games.

While Kashyap advanced, there was heartbreak for all the other singles players with P V Sindhu going down against Eriko Hirose of Japan 22-20, 14-21, 21-19 in women’s singles, Ajay Jayaram suffering a 21-18, 16-21, 21-14 reversal against Daren Liew of Malaysia and RMV Guru Sai Dutt beaten 11-21, 21-13, 21-11 by Takuma Ueda of Japan.

The doubles specialists also could not do much and were shown the door in the first round.

Air India, Andhra Pradesh bag team titles in junior nationals

Air India and Andhra Pradesh bagged the boy's and girl's team championships respectively in the Junior Inter-State team championship in Imphal, Manipur.
While Air India got the better of Chattisgarh 2-1 in the boy's final, the Andhra girls piped West Bengal by the same margin.

Sai Praneeth, Pantawane win singles titles in Bahrain International

India's B Sai Praneeth and Arundhati Pantawane bagged the men's and women's singles titles in the Bahrain International challenge badminton tournament with hard fought victories in the summit clash.
In the men's final, third seed Sai Praneeth rallied from a game down to get the better of top seed Niluka Karnaratne of Sri Lanka 14-21, 21-14, 21-17 while Nagpur girl Arundhati Pantawane fought back from a game down and a slump in the decider to get the better of Tanvi Lad 20-22, 21-12, 21-19 to lift the women's singles title.
Pantawane, a trainee of the Gopichand Academy, was staring defeat when she trailed 13-17 in the decider before the world number 51 fought back with a better tactical approach to win her maiden international title.
In the men's doubles, top seed Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas of Indiagot the better of K Nandagopal and Jishnu Sanyal 21-18, 19-21, 21-18 to lift the title. 

Injured Saina pulls out of China Open

Saina Nehwal has pulled out of the China Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament to be played in Shanghai from November 13-18 citing a knee injury.

The London Olympic bronze medallist had played with a strapped knee during the Denmark Super Series Premier, which she won, and the French Super Series in which she lost in the final.

The world number 3 has also submitted the medical certificate, which is a must for all top-10 players if they wish to withdraw from any Premier event.

According to the rules formulated by the Badminton World Federation, it is mandatory for all top-10 players to participate in Premier events – barring injuries -- and be part of the promotional activities two days prior to the tournament.

If Saina decides to stay away from the promotional activities then she will have to shell out $5000 as a fine. She had paid a similar fine in 2011 when she skipped the promotional events before the Super Series Finals.

Indian challenge ends in world juniors

India's challenge in the World Junior badminton championship in Chiba, Japan came to an end when the three boy's singles players were shown the door in the fourth round on Thursday.
Mumbai boy Harsheel Dani managed to stretch 5/8 seed Teck Zhi Soo of Malaysia for almost an hour but lost 21-13, 19-21, 21-15, while Rohit Yadav was no match to Chinese Xue Song, going down 21-10, 21-12 in 40 minutes.
In the other fourth round match, Pratul Joshi fought hard before surrendering 20-22, 21-16, 21-16 against Kwang Hee Heo of Korea.

Boys keep Indian hopes alive

Indian challenge in the World Junior badminton championship will now depend entirely on how the boys perform in the next few days after the country's challenge came to an end in women's singles, doubles and mixed doubles on the second day of competition in Chiba, Japan on Wednesday.
In the absence of Asian Junior champion P V Sindhu, the girls contingent was not expected to bring home a medal but none of them could even manage to clear the first three rounds.
However, there will three singles representatives in the fourth round in the boy's section with rookie Harsheel Dani leading the charge. Dani, who recently won the Sushant Chipalkatti u-19 tournament in Pune, upset 9/16 seed Matthias Almer of Austria 21-19, 21-13 to set up a fourth round clash with 5/8 seed Teck Zho soo of Malaysia.
Also advancing to the fourth round were 5/8 seed C Rohit Yadav and Pratul Joshi. Rohit defeated Fikri Ihsandi Hamadi of Indonsia 21-11, 21-15 while Joshi packed off 9/16 seed Mahbub Thomi Azizan of Indonesia 23-21, 14-21, 22-20 in the third round encounters.

Inspired Mitani ends Saina’s winning run

Saina Nehwal was given a dose of her own medicine in the final of the French Super Series badminton tournament when the world number three came against an inspired opponent who was willing to retrieve every shuttle that came her way and forced the favourite to commit mistakes.

Japanese Minatsu Mitani, who was playing her first Super Series final, came up with a performance that reduced Saina into a mere spectator for the last 10 points as she won 21-19, 21-11 to become the first player from the country to win a Super Series title.

Mitani, who had lost to Saina in the second round of the Denmark Super Series premier last week, had accounted for sixth seed Jiang Yanjiao of China in the opening round and in the final proved that none of her victories over higher ranked opponents, enroute to the summit clash, were flukes.

The world number 26 showed exceptional court coverage to nullify Saina’s booming smashes and every time the rallies prolonged came up with either a cross court drop shot or a down the line smash from unexpected angles to catch the top seed out of position.

It only ended up frustrating Saina, who made a flurry of errors in the second game to hand the title to Mitani.

Impatient Ajay loses to Gade, Saina in quarters

Ajay Jayaram first lost his patience and then the match against Peter Gade of Denmark in the men’s singles second round of the French Open Super Series badminton tournament on Thursday.

The Indian dominated the rallies for the better part of the hour long encounter but the experience of Gade and Ajay’s inability to control his urge for winners ultimately turned the tide in the Dane’s favour as he won 18-21, 21-17, 21-14.

Gade was knocked out at this stage of his home tournament last week by a defensive minded Sourabh Verma of India and after Ajay took the first game and opened up a two point lead in the second, it looked like the Indian Oil employee had learned the way to counter the former world number one.

But it was then that Gade changed his tactics and began prolonging the rallies and Ajay made some elementary errors in an attempt to go for the kill.

The third game progressed on the same lines with Ajay opening a 9-6 lead and then going on the attack instead of holding his ground. The move backfired and all Gade had to do was to keep the shuttle in play for Ajay to make mistakes.

Earlier, Saina Nehwal eased through to the quarterfinals of the women’s singles with a 21-16, 21-13 victory over Thailand’s Sapsiree Taerattanachai in the second round.

The top seed, who was stretched in the first round, was at relative ease against the Thai girl and will now take on the winner of the match between seventh seed Intanon Ratchanok of Thailand and Aprilla Yuswandari  of Indonesia.

French Open: Saina made to work hard by Han

World number four Saina Nehwal was given a wake-up call in the opening round of the French Super Series badminton tournament on Wednesday when the top seed was stretched for almost an hour by unheralded Li Han of China in the women’s singles first round encounter.

Saina, who is chasing back-to-back Super Series titles after winning the Denmark Open last week, managed to overpower the Chinese, who is currently ranked 19 places below the Indian, 21-11, 16-21, 21-19 in 59 minutes and will now face Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in the second round.

Saina looked like bulldozing through the first round encounter when she controlled the pace of the match in the first game but the Chinese came back strongly in the second and her superiority in the net exchanges added to the pressure on the London Olympics bronze medallist.

In the other matches, Ajay Jayaram defeated Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand 21-16, 21-17 in the men’s singles first round. He will now face third seed Peter Gade of Denmark for a place in the quarterfinals.

However, the challenge of Sourabh Verma came to an end in the opening round when he went down against Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia 22-20, 21-16 for the second successive time. The duo had met in the second round of the Denmark Open last week and the Indonesian had come up triumph in two straight games.

Refreshed Saina makes Premier return in Denmark

If there was any question mark on Saina’s match preparedness after taking over a month’s break from competitive badminton since winning the London Olympics bronze medal in August, the world number four gave an emphatic reply by winning the women’s singles title at the Denmark Super Series Premier without dropping a game in the entire tournament.
The third seed went into the tournament admitting that she wasn’t expecting much from the tournament since she was returning from a break and a knee injury. But the Bharat Petroleum employee, who recently signed Rs 40 crore deal for three years, showed no signs of rustiness or injury throughout the tournament.
In fact, it was her opponents who looked battle weary and it was no different against Juliane Schenk of Germany in the final. The German is known for her ability to push the physical limits of the opponent but in the final she was clearly no match to Saina’s pace and guile as the Indian bagged her second Premier level title of the year with a 21-17, 21-8 victory in just 34 minutes.
The title triumph also means that Saina became only the second Indian to win a Danish Open title after Prakash Padukone, who achieved the feat back in 1979. Saina now has 16 international titles to her name which includes six super series crowns.
Just before the start of the match a fire alarm went off and delayed the proceedings by a few minutes till the announcer made it clear that it was a false alarm. The final was played on similar lines with Schenk creating a false impression that she was up for a fight by making a comeback on a couple of occasions in the first game.
But the German never really looked threatening or had the energy to launch a full blown attack and simply caved in after the change of end. Saina simply had to keep the shuttle in play in the second half of the game and Schenk gifted points through unforced errors and did not even attempt to return the Indian serve on match point.
Later, Saina admitted that she did not expect much from this tournament and was happy that she could play at her best here. “There were a lot of felicitations and other functions after the Olympics. My right knee was also not in prime condition and hence I was not expecting much. But I am thankful to god and all the supporters here who stood behind me.”
Saina will now head to the French Super Series where she is the top seed.

Saina in Denmark Open final

A Chinese opponent conceded a match against Saina Nehwal for the second successive time as the world number four Indian stayed on course for her maiden Denmark Super Series title.

Saina, who bagged the London Olympic bronze medallist when Xin Wang conceded the bronze medal play off, went through the final after world champion and top seed Yihan Wang had to conceded their semifinal encounter due to a knee injury.

Saina, who had lost her earlier six encounters against the world champion, took time to find her rhythm but once the world number four hit her strides it was difficult for Yihan to match her opponent’s pace with a suspect knee.

She finally gave up the fight trailing 21-12, 12-7 at the half an hour mark and cleared Saina’s passage to the final.

The third seed will now take on Germany’s Juliane Schenk, who defeated China’s Yanjiao Jiang 13-21, 21-14, 21-15.

Saina sends Baun packing to reach maiden Denmark Open semifinal

Saina Nehwal made short work of an error-prone Tine Baun to end the local favourites hope of leaving a mark in what will be her final Denmark Super Series appearance in Odense on Friday.

Baun, a two-time All England champion, could not contain her frustration during the quarterfinal against the world number four Indian as she made many uncharecteristic errors and bowed out 21-10, 21-11 in just 33 minutes.

The Bharat Petroleum employee, who is playing in her first tournament since winning the bronze medal in the London Olympics, would now face top seed Yihan Wang of China in what would be a repeat of the last four clash in London a few months ago.

World champion Wang got the better of Korean seventh seed Ji Jyun Sung 21-13, 16-21, 21-8 in just under an hour but will face a lot fresher Saina in the semifinal.

Apart from a few points in which Baun showed glimpses of why she was once the biggest challenger to the Chinese hegemony, Saina was always in control of the match and eased into her maiden semifinal of the Denmark Open when Baun sent a regulation defensive stroke in the net.

But to get to the final, Saina will have to beat an opponent she hasn’t managed to get the better of in their six previous encounters.

Best of luck Saina.

Saina in Danish Open quarters; Verma ousted

Saina Nehwal stormed into the quarterfinals of the Denmark Super Series with a convincing 21-15, 21-14 victory over Minatsu Mitani of Japan in the women's singles second round on Thursday.
The second round encounter between the third seed and her less fancied opponent had a bizarre start with the Japanese taking the first 15 points and then Saina bouncing back with 21 consecutive points to pocket the first game 21-15.
The most interesting fact about the entire game was that all the points were scored by smash winners as both players struggled to keep the rally going for a longer period.
The second game was far too moderate in comparison to the first, with Saina never letting go the advantage she got in the first few exchanges. The rallies were always smaller and it was the Indians better control at the net that made the ultimate difference. She will now face the winner of the match between local favourite Tine Baun and qualifier Lok Yan Poon of Hong Kong.
While Saina took her expected position in the quarterfinals, India's challenge in the men's singles came to an end when Sourabh Verma went down against Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-19, 21-17 in the second round.

Verma packs off Gade in his last Denmark Open

Sourabh Verma put behind his disappointing performance in the Senior Nationals in style when he shattered the local hopes by packing off local favourite and sixth seed Peter Gade in the very first round of the Denmark Super Series badminton tournament in Odense on Wednesday night.
Former world number one Gade has already announced that this would be his last year on the circuit and was hoping to give the home crowd a reason to celebrate in what would be his final appearance in the Danish Open.
But that was not to be. Verma showed the patience to engage the veteran shuttler in long rallies and was prepared to wait for his opportunities. The tactic caught Gade by surprises as the Indian raced to a 5-0 lead in the first game and never looked back after that to win 21-18, 21-14 in just 42 minutes.
This was the first tournament for Verma after losing in the second round of the Senior National badminton tournament last month, where he was defending the crown.
The additional period was spent well on preparing for the Danish Open and the results were there for everyone to see.
While Verma advanced to the second round and will face Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia, Nationals finalist Ajay Jayaram went down 19-21, 21-8, 21-9 against seventh seed Pengyu Du of China in the first round.

Saina makes a winning return in Denmark Super Series

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal shrugged off any suggestions of rustiness to beat South Korea's Yeon Ju Bae 21-17, 21-17 to move into the women's singles second round of the Denmark Super Series badminton tournament.
The world number four, who had not played any tournament since her London exploits, needed some time to settle down as the Korean took a 7-4 lead in the first game. But Saina quickly drew level and had enough fuel to pull away in the business end of the first game.
The Bharat Petroleum employee was always in command in the second and would now face Japan's Minatsu Mitani. The Indian ace enjoys a 2-0 head-to-head record and would be considered a favourite for a berth in the quarterfinals.
In the day's other matches, Anand Pawar came up with a spirited performance against fifth seed Sho Sasaki of Japan before going down 14-21, 21-15, 21-11 in the men's singles first round.
Men's doubles pair of Arun Vishnu and K Tarun and mixed combination of Tarun and Ashwini Ponnappa were knocked out in the first round itself. 

Sindhu, Sameer out of World juniors

India's junior world cup campaign suffered a major setback when world number 21 PV Sindhu and last edition bronze medallist Sameer Verma opted out of the tournament due to injury.
The world junior championship is to be held in Chiba, Japan from October 25.
Sindhu had played through the knee injury at the senior nationals in Srinagar last month and had lost the final to Sayali Gokhale of Air India.
The Asian Junior champion was considered to be the favourite for the gold this year but failed to recover completely and had to pull out.
Sameer, on the other hand, has been out of action for almost a month now due to an ankle injury and would not travel to Japan.

Indian challenge ends in Asian meet

Indian challenge in the Badminton Asia Youth U-17 & 15 championship when Chirag Sen lost the u-15 singles semifinal against Chen Jinlin of China 14-21, 21-12, 21-13 and then the Indian combination of Chirag and Rahul C Yadav went down against Malaysia’s Tan Jia Wei and Ooi Zi Heng 20-22, 21-17, 27-25.

Chirag reaches semis of Asian u-15 championship

India’s Chirag Sen registered a comfortable victory over Lim Su Min of Korea to reach the semifinals of the Badminton Asia Youth U-15 championship in Dongguan, China on Friday.

The Prakash Padukone Academy trainee, who upset fifth seed Lek U Leong of Macau in the second round, won the quarterfinal 21-16, 21-19 and hasn’t dropped a game in the competition so far. He will now take on local hope Chen Jinlin in the semifinals on Saturday.

Later in the day, Chirag also teamed up with Rahul C Yadav to reach the boys u-15 doubles semifinal after a hard-fought 21-12, 18-21, 21-16 victory over the Korean combination of Byeon Jeong Soo and Lim Su Min.

The Indian combination will now face Malaysia’s Tan Jia Wei and Ooi Zi Heng for a place in the final.

However, it was not a good day in office for India’s under-17 girl’s players as Sushant Chippalkatti tournament winner G Ruthvika Shivani went down to China’s Chen Yufei 21-12, 21-17 in the singles quarterfinals and then she and Rituparna Das failed to counter the local combination of Li Yun and Chen Mingchun and lost 12-21, 21-14, 21-19 in the doubles event.

Doubles players would also like some recognition sir

The Badminton Association of India on Wednesday announced a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each for singles stars P Kashyap and PV Sindhu.
Kashyap was honoured for reaching the quarterfinals of the London Olympics while Sindhu earned the accolades for her Asian junior triumph.
However, in the entire euphoria, the apex sporting body failed to recognise the contribution made by the doubles players in taking India on the world map.
The trio of Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa and V Diju had created history by becoming the first women and mixed doubles combination to qualify for the Olympics. In fact, Jwala and Ashwini had also won the Commonwealth Games gold and are also the first combination to win the World Championship bronze medal.
BAI should also remember that in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, the doubles combinations need to fire if India has to have a chance of a medal.
Hopefully this will be the last time they will suffer this discrimination.
Otherwise, no player would ever be keen to take up doubles as a career and we would continue to falter in team championships.

Kashyap, Sayali are national champions

P Kashyap’s trophy cabinet had many medals to show off. But the missing senior national title had been bothering the London Olympic quarterfinalists for far too long. But after today, the 26-year-old can breathe easy.
The Gopichand Academy trainee carved his name on the Vikas Topiwala Challenge Cup with an emphatic 21-18, 21-17 victory over Ajay Jayaram in the men’s singles final of the 77th Senior National Badminton championship here.
The Men’s singles final turned out to be a one-way affair with a spirited Kashyap continuing to display the same form that had helped him demolish his opponent in the semifinal. He was aggressive and went for the kill whenever the opportunity presented itself and never allowed Ajay to get any opportunity to stage a comeback.
“It is a big relief. I wanted to win this title for so many years and it’s a big burden off my shoulder now that I have won it. Ajay has had a fantastic tournament this week, but I was confident of winning. My heath gave me some trouble initially but that didn't affect me today,” said Kashyap, who had previously lost in two finals to Aravind Bhat.
In the women’s singles, Sayali Gokhale got the better of defending champion PV Sindhu 21-15, 15-21, 21-15 to regain the title she had won four years ago.
It was an absorbing affair with the tenacious Sayali maintaining her intensity throughout the one hour 15 minute encounter, thereby pushing Sindhu to the brink.
Sindhu, who had been carrying a knee injury in the tournament, was sluggish in her movements and that Sayali capitalised on that with some deft crosscourt smashes and pushes.
“I knew she was not 100 per cent. Despite that, I went into the match without much expectations and I feel that helped,” said the Pune girl, who had lost to Sindhu in the final of the Tata Open International series tournament in December last year.

Results (final):

Men: Singles: P Kashyap (PSPB) bt Ajay Jayaram (PSPB) 21-18, 21-17
Doubles: B Sumeet Reddy/Manu Attri (AAI) bt Akshay Dewalkar (AI)/Pranav Chopra (PSPB) 10-21, 21-14, 21-12
Women: Singles: Sayali Gokhale (AI) bt PV Sindhu (PSPB) 21-15, 15-21, 21-15
Doubles: Aparna Balan/Sikki Reddy bt Varsha Belawadi/GM Nischitha 21-11, 21-13
Mixed doubles: Aparna Balan/Arun Vishnu bt Ashwini Ponnappa/Tarun Kona 21-13, 18-21, 21-15

Below par Sindhu had little trouble in semis

A below par PV Sindhu showed the gap between her and rest of the Indian women shuttlers when she overcame a sluggish start to beat Arundhati Pantawane 8-21, 21-18, 21-13 and reach the final of the 77th Senior National Badminton championship here on Tuesday.
The defending champion has been troubled by her right knee throughout the tournament and never looked comfortable on the court throughout the 49-minute encounter against her Gopichand Academy mate but did just enough to reach the final.
Pantawane had started brilliantly, attacking Sindhu at the outset and bulldozed through the first game.
But Sindhu, who upset the reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the China Open a few weeks ago, slowed the pace of the game and controlled the rallies better thereafter to turn the tide.
Sindhu was never in control throughout the match and every time she was being made to stretch for the shuttle, she preferred to let it go. However, Pantawane failed to execute the right game plan and the pre-tournament favourite comfortably negotiated the challenge with superior net dribbles and half smashes.
She will now face former national champion Sayali Gokhale, who got the better of youngster Tanvi Lad 21-17, 9-21, 21-11.
The men's singles final will see Olympic bronze medallist P Kashyap take on Ajay Jayaram in an all-Petroleum final.

Results (semifinal):

Men: Singles: Ajay Jayaram (PSPB) bt K. Nandagopal (AAI) 21-14, 21-15; P. Kashyap (PSPB) bt K. Srikanth (AP) 21-5, 21-8
Doubles: Akshay Dewalkar (AI)/Pranav Chopra (PSPB) bt Alwin Francis (Ker)/V. Diju (PSPB) 21-18, 21-15; Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy (AAI) bt Guru Prasad and Vineeth Manuel (Kar) 21-10,
21-12.
Women: Singles: P. V. Sindhu (PSPB) bt Arundhati Pantawane (PSPB) 8-21, 21-18, 21-13; Sayali Gokhale (AI) bt Tanvi Lad (AI) 21-17, 9-21, 21-11.
Doubles: 1-Aparna Balan (PSPB)/N Sikki Reddy (AAI) bt K Maneesha (AP)/Pradnya Gadre (AAI) 16-21, 21-19, 21-15; Varsha Belawadi/G. M. Nischitha (Kar) bt Sanyogita Ghorpade and Saili Rane (AI) 21-16, 15-21, 21-17.
Mixed: Aparna Balan/Arun Vishnu (PSPB) bt K. Maneesha (AP)/Pranaav Chopra (PSPB) 17-21, 21-12, 21-14; Ashwini Ponappa and K Tarun (PSPB) bt Prajakta Sawant (PSPB)/Manu Attri (AAI) 21-19, 19-21, 21-15

Brothers Srikanth and Nandagopal book semifinal berths

K Srikanth and K Nandagopal have been used to facing each other for years in their backyard and the business end of the Andhra state championship. But a chance to face off in the 77^th Senior National Badminton championship seems a realistic possibility after both the brothers registered convincing wins in the quarterfinals.

Srikanth, who won the Maldives International earlier this year, got the better of former junior national champion RMV Guru Sai Dutt 21-13, 21-19 while Nandagopal hammered giant killer Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-18, 21-9 to reach the semifinals.

Srikanth will now take on London Olympic bronze medallist P Kashyap while Nandagopal will meet Ajay Jayaram for a berth in the final.

While Nandagopal was a runaway favourite in the quarterfinals, it was the younger brother Srikanth who came up with a special performance to upset his senior at the Gopichand Badminton Academy.

There were no flashy strokes, nor any extraordinary game plan. But Srikanth showed the value of sticking to the basics and not allowing any opportunity to score a point pass by. He kept things tight at the net and used the height advantage whenever Guru struggled with the length of his lifts.

The only time, Srikanth felt the jitters was when he had three match points and tried to hurry the rallies. He mistimed a smash and then put a simple net dribble in the net before Guru pushed a drive over the baseline to hand the boy from Guntur his maiden semifinal appearance in the senior nationals.

In the other matches, Kashyap continued his dominance on Sai Praneeth with a 21-18, 21-19 victory while Ajay recovered from a bad start to thrash Abhimanyu Singh 18-21, 21-9, 21-6.

In the women’s singles, pre tournament favourite PV Sindhu sailed into the semifinals and will face Arundhati Pantawane, who upset top seed Neha Pandit 14-21, 21-16, 21-15. The other semifinal will see former national champion Sayali Gokhale take on junior national champion Tanvi Lad.

Results:

Men: Singles: 6-K Nandagopal (AAI) bt Shreyansh Jaiswal (CG) 21-18, 21-9; Ajay Jayaram (PSPB) bt Abhimanyu Singh (MP) 18-21, 21-9, 21-6; P Kashyap (PSPB) bt 2-B Sai Praneeth 21-18, 21-19; 8-K Srikanth (AP) bt 14-RMV Guru Sai Dutt (PSPB) 21-13, 21-19

Doubles: Manu Atri/B Sumeeth Reddy w/o Rupesh Kumar/Sanave Thomas; 3-Akshay Dewalkar (AI)/Pranav Chopra (PSPB) bt 7-Venkat Gaurav/Manish Gupta (CG) 21-14, 21-13; 2-D Guru Prasad/Vineeth Manuel (KTK) bt Surender Rathee/Neeraj Vashisth (HAR) 21-11, 21-17

Women: Singles: Arundhati Pantawane (PSPB) bt 1-Neha Pandit (AI) 14-21, 21-16, 21-15; 3-PV Sindhu (PSPB) bt 23-Anita Ohlan (RLY) 21-13, 8-3 ret; 2-Sayali Gokhale (AI) bt 7-PC Thulasi (PSPB) 23-21, 21-19; 9-Tanvi Lad (AI) bt 11-Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) 21-15, 21-16

Doubles: 1-Aparna Balan (PSPB)/N Sikki Reddy (AAI) bt 6-Anita Ohlan/Dhanya Nair (RLY) 21-12, 21-11; 4-Sanyogita Ghorpade (MAH)/Saili Rane (AI) bt K Suneri/S Darshini 21-16, 21-17; Pradnya Gadre (AAI)/K Maneesha (AP) bt 3-Prajakta Sawant/Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) 21-14, 21-18; 2-Varsha Belawadi/GM Nischita (KTK) bt Sonal More/Vinaya Shetty (MAH) 19-21, 21-18, 21-10

Mixed: K Maneesha (AP)/ Pranav Chopra (PSPB) bt Manasi Gadgil/Nishad Dravid (MAH) 21-18, 21-13; Ashwini Ponappa/K Tarun (PSPB) bt Juhi Dewagan/venkat Gaurav (CG) 21-15, 21-8; 1-Aparna Balan/Arun Vishnu (PSPB) bt 6-K Suneri/Vijay Aloysius (TN) 21-9, 21-16; 4-Manu Atri (AAI)/Prajakta Sawant (PSPB) bt Susan Rajan/Ram C Vijay (KER) 21-9, 21-10

Jaiswal upsets defending champion Verma in second round

The 77^th Senior National badminton championship came to life on the first full day of competition when the unheralded Sreyansh Jaiswal of Chattisgarh upset top seed and defending champion Sourabh Verma in the men’s singles second round here on Sunday.

The 52 min encounter between a player who has now over two years of experience on the international circuit and the other who is still finding his feet in the domestic events was more a battle of nerves rather than attrition.

For the first 15 minutes, it looked like Verma will have a cakewalk against a junior player who himself “believed” that he had no chance of winning against such a senior opponent. That meant that Jaiswal used to match the top seed in the rallies only to miss out on opportunities to finish the point.

However, the 17-year-old trainee of former national coach S M Arif decided to enjoy himself on the court after the first game and that slowly but surely the pressure shifted from him to the experienced campaigner.

There were hardly any rallies or strokes that stood out but the one could feel the nerves in Verma’s approach at the net, which has always been the strong point of the boy from Dhar. His net dribbles lost the sharpness and his lifts could only reach mid court for the lanky Jaiswal to finish with ease.

Later speaking about the match, Verma admitted that he allowed the pressure to build on himself and made silly mistakes.

Even Jaiswal struggled with his nerves at the business end of the match and though one would give him the credit for raising his game to score five consecutive points to lead 18-13 in the decider. It would now be interesting to see how the youngster would handle the pressure of being the favourite when he takes on Nikhilesh Sharma of Assam.

PSPB continue their domination in Inter-State meet

Petroleum Sports Promotion Board continued their domination in the Inter-State Badminton championship with clinical wins to lift the Rahimatoola Cup for Men and Chadha Cup for women for the 14^th consecutive year.

The men’s team defeated Air India 3-1, while the women got the better of Airport Authority of India 2-1 in the final at the Sher-I-Kashmir Indoor Stadium in Srinagar on Saturday.

Results:

Men: PSPB bt Air India 3-1 (P Kashyap bt Pratul Joshi 12-21, 21-15, 21-12; Ajay Jayaram lost to Anand Pawar 17-21, 17-21; K Tarun/Arun Vishnu bt Akshay Dewalkar/Anand Pawar 22-20, 21-15; B Sai Praneeth bt G Gopiraju 21-14, 21-15

Women: PSPB bt AAI 2-1 (PC Thulasi bt Neha Pandit 21-15, 21-7; Ashwini Ponnappa/Prajakta Sawant lost to Pradnya Gadre/N Sikki Reddy 14-21, 17-21; Arundhati Pantawane bt Mohita Sahdev 21-16, 21-11)

Why can't BAI study all paradigms before making rules?

Trust the Badminton Association of India to create confusion when none was needed and then call it an attempt at improvement.

The latest drama is currently unfolding at the Inter-State National championship in Srinagar where the new rules for the team championship are being implemented.

According to these rules, a team can field only those players through out the tournament who were named in the first tie and any replacement would be permitted only if one of the player is injured and ruled out for the tournament.

This means that if only three of the five members in the women's team or seven of the 10 in mens are fielded in the opening tie then the remaining would merely be spectators through out the tournament.

It effectively takes away the coach's prerogative to pick his playing members and any tactical adjustment he/she want to do with the squad and is being criticised by all teams.

But the bigger joke is not the rule but the foolishness of the administrators who aimed to streamline the team championship rules and regulations in accordance to the international standards but ended up making a fool of themselves due to petty politics.

The Competition Officials Committee (COC), which is responsible for formulating competition rules and regulations, had been advocating the need to implement the Thomas/Uber Cup regulations for the Inter-State meet.

According to those regulations, once a team gives the list of their players for a particular tie the top ranked singles players according to international rankings of each team will face each other in the first match, second faces second and there on.

This method was devised to ensure that all the matches had a decent standard and no team were sacrificing any rubber.

However, many states were opposed to the format as they felt that it restricted their ability to "out-think" the opposition since the surprise element would go away.

Faced with a deadlock, the BAI officials needed to stamp their authority and hence made a chance that was not just unneccesary but also against the direction that they wanted to go in the first place.

The office bearers will once again hide behind the argument that they were trying to do something new and will correct the mistakes next time.

While it is understandable that implementation of any new rule can be a trial and error process, here BAI had just to follow the example of the World body rather than re-invent the wheel.

But consistency has rarely been BAI's strongest point. The apex body first decided that the defending national champions would have to go through the qualifying process from this year - instead of the direct entry system. But just a few days before the zonals, restored the direct entry without giving any reasons.

There have been many such cases in the last few years where there has been little reasoning behind why BAI took a particular decision or repealed it without any justification.

Thankfully, those running the sport has very little role to play in the performance of the players and India can still boast of some really world class performances in the last few years.

There is very little hope from the system.

China Masters: Sindhu loses semis but wins hearts

Just over a year ago, London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal had spoken about how the pressure of single-handedly shouldering the pressure of the country’s expectations sometimes gets to her.

The world number four need not worry anymore. Her academy mate and reigning women’s national champion P V Sindhu proved this week that she is ready to not only reduce the burden of expectations on the Commonwealth Games gold medallist but has to quality to carve a place for herself in the echelons of Indian badminton.

The 17-year-old Sindhu made the most of the absence of Saina at the China Masters Super Series badminton tournament in Changzhou to move the spot light on her – beating reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the quarterfinals and coming within sniffing distance of upsetting fourth seed Jiang Yanjiao 21-10, 14-21, 21-19 in the semifinals.

This was the second meeting between Sindhu and Yanjiao and it was only the inexperience of the 17-year-old that ultimately cost her the 66 minute encounter. However, in those 66 minutes, Sindhu showed what she was capable of.

The semifinal encounter was a battle of attrition between two players who boast of an array of deceptive strokes, especially the short arm drops and flicks that can leave the opponent flummoxed.

Sindhu began rather tamely and before she could get into her strides, Jiang had already pocketed the first game and the crowd had already started celebrating. But the first point of the second game even made the Chinese coaching staff sit up and take notice as the Indian made her more experienced opponent run around the court and brought Jiang on her knees.

That point began the series of long rallies in which both players looked to out-think each other and it was the superiority at the net that mostly determined which way the rally went.

Sindhu was exceptional good in playing the top-spin net dribbles and create the openings for the kill in the second game. It was just the experience of Jiang that kept her in the match despite the tired legs and that meant that the decider was reduced to a battle of will and temperament with both players looking to summon whatever strength was left in their body to outmanoeuvre each other.

It looked like Sindhu would take the cake, when she opened up a 18-17 lead and just needed a tap at the net to go two points ahead. However, the inexperience of the Asian Junior champion showed at the crucial juncture as she hurried into the stroke and made an unforced error. Two more errors followed and ended her dream run in the tournament.

But then, China Masters is just a start for the affable Sindhu and a title triumph should be round the corner.

In the men’s singles semifinal, Ajay Jayaram failed to work his magic against Hu Yun of Chinese Taipei and went down 21-16, 21-18

Result (semifinal):

Women’s singles: P V sindhu lost to 4-Jiang Yanjiao 21-10, 14-21, 21-19 
Men's singles: Ajay Jayaram lost to Hu Yun 21-16, 21-18

China Masters: Sindhu upsets Olympic champion, Ajay also in semis

National champion P V Sindhu proved the world that there is more to Indian women’s badminton than Saina Nehwal when she stunned Olympic champion and second seed Li Xuerui on her home turf to reach the semifinal of the China Masters Super Series badminton tournament in Changzhou on Friday.

The world number 24 proved that she has a good tactical acumen in the 45 minute encounter by ensuring that she did not exert herself once she fell back in the second game and went on to win 21-19, 9-21, 21-16.

Sindhu matched Xuerui in long rallies and forced her to surrender with a combination of cross court smashes and half smashes to set up a last four clash against Jiang Yanjiao, who got the better of Busanan Ongbumrungpan of Thailand 21-15, 16-21, 21-15.

India will also have representation in the men’s semifinal, when Ajay Jayaram got the better of national champion Sourabh Verma 12-21, 21-14, 21-16 in the quarterfinals.

Results

Men’s singles:

RMV Guru Sai Dutt lost to 1-Chen Long (CHN) 21-8, 21-12

Ajay Jayaram bt Sourabh Verma 12-21, 21-14, 21-16

Women’s singles:

PV Sindhu bt 2-Li Xuerui (CHN) 21-19, 9-21, 21-16

China Masters: Good outing for Indian shuttlers in second round

Indian shuttlers had a good outing in the second round of the China Masters Super Series badminton tournament in Changzhou with four of them booking their quarterfinals berth.

Women’s national champion P V Sindhu lead the charge with an upset victory over eighth seed Porntip Buranprasertsuk of Thailand 10-21, 21-7, 21-19 in 47 minutes to set up a clash against second seed and Olympic Games gold medallist Li Xuerui of China.

In the men’s section, former junior national champion RMV Guru Sai Dutt got the better of his Gopichand Academy teammate P Kashyap 16-21, 21-18, 21-4 and will now face top seed Chen Long of China.

Also advancing to the next round were Ajay Jayaram and men’s national champion Sourabh Verma. Ajay defeated Singapore’s Zi Liang Derek Wong 21-17. 21-9, while Verma got the better of Jen Hao Hsu of Chinese Taipei 21-12, 21-16 to set up an all Indian quarterfinal.

Results:
Men’s singles:

Ajay Jayaram bt Zi Liang Derek Wong (SIN) 21-17, 21-9

Sourabh Verma bt Jen Hao Hsu (TPE) 21-12, 21-16

RMV Guru Sai Dutt bt 8-P Kashyap 16-21, 21-18, 21-4

Women’s singles

P V Sindhu bt 8-Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA) 10-21, 21-7, 21-19

Mixed Doubles

8-Ashwini Ponnappa/K Tarun lost to Jian Guo Ong/Yin Loo Lim (MAS) 21-9, 21-14