Kanetkar, Thomas in last eight

Indians had mixed fortunes at the Scottish international badminton championships on Friday.

Nikhil Kanetkar and qualifier Thomas Kurien reached the men's quarter-finals, but national champion Aparna Popat was eliminated in the second round of the women's singles, at the Kelvin Hall arena, in Glasgow.

Kanetkar beat Nigel Boyne of Ireland in the first round 7-0, 7-3, 7-1 and then upset fifth seed Bobby Milroy of Canada in the pre-quarter-finals 1-7, 7-2, 7-1, 7-3, according to a statement from the Badminton Association of India, on Saturday.

Kurien beat Christian Unternahrer of Switzerland in the first round 7-3, 7-1, 7-0 and then shocked Andrew South of England in three hard-fought games.

Andrew led 5-1, 4-1 and 4-2 in the first, second and third games respectively but the Indian rallied brilliantly to overcome the fancied British shuttler 8-6, 7-4, 7-5.

Thomas had come through the qualifying event on Thursday, beating Mathew Spake of Wales 7-1, 7-0, 7-0 and Clarkson of England 7-1, 7-2, 7-2.

However, only one Indian will go through to the semi-finals, as Kanetkar and Thomas, who are trainees at the Prakash Padukone Academy in Bangalore, will clash in the quarter-finals.

Joy T Anthony of Kerala made a forgettable debut, losing in the qualifying round itself. He lost to Joachim Persson of Denmark 3-7, 7-1, 2-7, 2-7.

In the women's section, Popat was defeated by top seed Kelly Morgan of Wales 2-7, 4-7, 5-7.

Kelly extended her winning record against Popat, having beaten the Indian ace in the Commonwealth Games and Olympics.

Trupti Murgunde, the other Indian woman in the fray, lost in the first round to Christina Sorensen of Denmark 2-7, 4-7, 1-7.

In her anxiety to score quick points, Trupti made too many errors and paid the penalty.

The finals are scheduled for Sunday.