Parul pushes past Meenakshi

Parul pushes past Meenakshi
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

pune, Jan 2: Unseeded Parul Priyadarshini of Railways sent all norms of the seeding committee crashing after she beat top-seeded BR Meenakshi (Karnataka) to enter the women's singles final of the VIth all-India VV Natu Memorial badminton meet.

Conceding just five points (11-2, 11-3) en route the summit-clash is enough evidence of the result of a one-sided semi-final. Parul, the reigning junior National champion, took 25 minutes to down Meenakshi who has a mind-set of just not playing her best against players of her age.

Parul will now take on fourth seed PVV Laxmi (Andhra Pradesh), who put out Trupti Murgunde (Air-India) in three games, in the final.

Trupti, runners-up at the junior Nationals, succumbed to the experienced Laxmi after she began with a 11-7 win in the first game. Thereafter, Trupti failed to match Laxmi and went down 3-11, 5-11 in an encounter lasting 40 minutes.

The men's final will witness another junior National champ Chetan Anand against top seeded Abhinn Shyam Gupta. Abhinn putout Siddharth Jain 15-8, 15-7 in a tie lasting 46 minutes. And later, No 2 Nikhil Kanetkar conceded his match against No 5 Chetan in the decider after both shared a game each.

With Kanetkar winning the first 15-10, Chetan survived anxious moments in the second before prevailing 17-16. Chetan up two match points but allowed Kanetkar to claw back and draw level. Eventually, Kanetkar lost a net battle to push the tie into the third.

The decider saw Chetan open a 5-1 advantage, which transpired into 8-1, but after changing courts, Kanetkar quit citing ``health problems.''

Results
Men's Singles (semi-finals): 1-Abthinn Shyam Gupta (PSCbt) bt 3-Siddharth Jain (MP) 15-8, 15-7; 5-Chetan Anand (A-I) bt 2-Nikhil Kanetkar (PSCbt) 10-15, 17-16, 8-5 conceded. Quarter-finals: 1-Abthinn Shyam Gupta (PSCbt) bt 7-Anuj Gupta (Guj) 15-7, 15-7; 3-Siddharth Jain (MP) bt Devinder Dhillon (Dli) 15-5, 15-1; 5-Chetan Anand (A-I) bt Thomas Kurien (Ker) 15-11, 15-5; 2-Nikhil Kanetkar (PSCbt) bt JbtS Vidyadhar (AP)15-12, 15-0.
Doubtles (quarters): 1-Jaseel Ismail/ Vincent Lobto (PSCbt) btt Devinder Dhillon/Pravin Ghelawat (Dli) 15-5, 15-4; V Diju/Sanave Thomas (Ker) bt U Vinod Kumar (Rly)/Sushant Niddodi (Mah) 15-13, 15-13; Ajit Wijetilak (PSCbt)/Jose George (Ker) bt K Anish/Joy T Anthony (Ker) 15-12, 13-15, 15-3; 2-Vijaydeep Singh/Markos Bristow (PSCbt) bt Bhushan Akut/Shrikant Bakshi 15-11, 15-17, 15-0.
Women's singles (semis): Parul Priyadarshini bt 1-B R Meenakshi (Ktk) 11-2, 11-3; 4-PVV Laxmi (AP) bt 2-Trupti Murgunde (A-I) 7-11, 11-3, 11-5.
Quarters: 1-B R Meenakshi (Ktk) w/o Neelima Chaudhary (A-I); Parul Priyadarshini (Rly) bt CH Deepti (AP) 11-9, 6-11, 11-4; 4-PVV Laxmi (PSCbt) bt 3-Sampada Shetye (Rly) 3-11, 11-1, 11-8; 2-Trupti Murgunde (A-I) bt Shruti Kurien (AP) 11-4, 11-7.
Doubtles (quarters): 1-Jwala Gutta/Shruti Kurien (AP) bt Sim Sim Salaria/Nupura Bhide (Mah) 15-9, 15-12; Parul Priyadarshini (Rly)/Divya Ramesh (Ktk) w/o Neelima Chaudhary (PSCB)/D Shewta (AP); Ketaki Thakar/Trupti Murgunde(A-I) bt B R Meenakshi (Ktk)/Tanuja Begum (Ker) 9-15, 15-8, 15-10; Archana Deodhar/Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) bt 2-Oli Deka (Asm)/CH Deepti (PSCbt) 15-1, 15-3.