Abhinn, Aparna in final
Top seeds in the men's and women's singles, Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Aparna Popat posted comfortable victories to storm into the finals in the US $5000 prize-money BPL Asian Satellite badminton championships at the Bombay Gymkhana courts, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
Gupta overcame a sluggish start to beat third seed Nikhil Kanetkar 17-14, 15-8, while Popat proved too strong for B R Meenakshi, winning 11-8, 11-1.
In the final, Gupta will take on fourth seed Jarkrapan
Thanathiratham of Thailand, who beat Malaysia's Lee
Chong Wei 8-15, 15-4, 15-4, while Popat will clash
with Thailand's Salakjit Polsana, who brushed aside
the challenge of Malaysia's Lee Yin Yin, winning 11-6,
11-3.
In the morning, Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei caused the
only upset of the day, beating second seed Chetan Anand of India in the men's singles
quarter-finals. Wei won 13-15, 15-10, 15-10.
Following are the results:
Men's singles (semi-finals): 1-Abhinn Shyam Gupta
(India) bt 3-Nikhil Kanetkar (India) 17-14, 15-8; Jarkrapan Thanathiratham (Thailand) bt Lee Chong Wei
(Malaysia) 8-15, 15-4, 15-4.
Women's singles (semi-finals): 1-Aparna Popat (India)
bt B R Meenakshi (India) 11-8, 11-1; Salakjit Polsana
(Thailand) bt Lee Yin Yin (Malaysia) 11-1, 11-7.
Men's singles (quarter-finals): Abhinn Shyam Gupta (India) bt Thomas Kurian (India)
15-6, 15-7; Nikhil Kanetkar (India) bt Sanave Thomas
(India) 15-3, 7-3 (conceded); Jakrapan Thanathiratham
(Thailand) bt Aamir Ghaffer (England) 15-9, 15-9; Lee
Chong Wei (Malaysia) bt Chetan Anand (India) 13-15,
15-10, 15-10.
Women's singles (quarter-finals): Aparna Popat (India) bt Saratja Chansrisukot
(Thailand) 11-2, 11-7; B.R. Meenakshi (India) bt Woon
Sze Mei (Malaysia) 13-12, 13-11; Lee Yin Yin
(Malaysia) bt Trupti Murgunde (India) 11-6, 11-3;
Salakjit Polsana (Thailand) bt Manjusha Kanwar (India)
11-5, 11-2.
Men’s singles (second round): Abhinn Shyam Gupta (India) beat Joy Anthony (India) 15-3, 15-12; Thomas Kurien (India) beat Krishanan Yogendran (Malaysia) 5-15, 15-3, 15-2; Nikhil Kanetkar (India) beat Thirayu Laohathaimongkol (Thailand) 15-5, 15-9; Sanave Thomas (India) beat Hendra Wijaya (Singapore) 17-14, 15-10; Jarkrapan Thanathiratham (Thailand) beat Ravinder Singh (India) 15-5, 15-4; Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) beat Siddharth Jain (India) 15-10, 15-5; Aamir Ghaffar (England) beat J B S Vidyadhar (India) 11-15, 15-6, 17-15; Chetan Anand (India) beat Kuo Wen Wayne (Singapore) 15-4, 15-4.
Women's singles (first round): Aparna Popat (India) beat C H Deepti (India) 11-0, 13-12; Saratja Chansrisukot (Thailand) beat Fatima Nazneen (India) 11-1, 11-7; Woon Sze Mei (Malaysia) beat Krishna Dekaraja (India) 11-2, 11-6; B.R. Meenakshi (India) beat Krupa Telang (India) 11-5, 11-3; Trupti Murgunde (India) beat Palkan Nagori (India) 13-11, 11-1; Lee Yin Yin (Malaysia) beat K. Neelima Chawdry (India) 11-0, 11-5; Manjusha Kanwar (India) beat Jwala Gutta (India) 8-11, 11-7, 11-5; Salakjit Polsana (Thailand) beat Pooja Patil (India) 11-2, 11-2.
Men's doubles (quarter-finals): Jeremy Gan Wye Teck
and James Gan Teik Chai (Malaysia) bt Marcos Bristow
and Rupesh Kumar (India) 15-6, 15-9; Stephen Foster
and Paul Trueman (England) bt Sanave Thomas and Joy
Anthony (India) 15-2, 15-4; Ng Kean Kok and Tan Bin
Shen (Malaysia) bt Jaseel Ismail and Jaison Xavier
(India) 15-6, 15-9; Robert Blair Blair and Ian
Palethorpe (England) bt Vijaydeep Singh and Mangrish
Palekar (India) 15-7, 15-5.
Women's doubles (semi-finals): Duang-Anong Arunkesorn
and Kulchala Worawichitchaikul (Thailand) bt Lee Yin
Yin and Woon Sze Mei (Malaysia) 11-3, 11-3; Salakjit
Polsana and Saratja Chansrisukot (Thailand) bt Shruti
Kurian and Jwala Gutta (India) 11-5, 4-11, 11-7.
Mixed doubles (semi-finals): Jaseel Ismail and Manjusha Kanwar (India) bt Jakrapan
Thanathiratham and Kulchala Worawichitchaikul
(Thailand) 13-10, 13-10; Marcos Bristow and B R
Meenakshi (India) bt Thirayu Laohathaimongkol and
Duang-Among Arunkesorn (Thailand) 11-7, 11-6.
