Expectedly, the Indians had a field day and those to make an impression were the third seed Abhin Shyam Gupta and Ajit Wijethilak. Abhin made a mockery of the challenge or the lack of it from Maldivian Noosa Nashid, 15-3, 15-5 and Ajit was no less impressive while putting out Md. Rasel Kabir of Bangladesh 15-10, 15-11.

Fourth seeded Malaysian Yeoh Kay Bin had a fight on his hands against Indian Divender Dhillon while coming out a 15-10, 15-7 winner. On a day when things rolled kindly for the seeds, fifth seed Nikhil Kanetkar outplayed Sri Lankan S Janaka 15-5, 15-1.

Indian qualifier Amrish Shinde did well to take a game off the Sri Lankan T Edinashinge. Amrish put behind a bad first game and came up with a refreshing mix of drops but only just as the Lankan systematically grinded him in the decider, to emerge a 15-4, 7-15, 15-10 winner.

In the women's section, India's Suganya, who had made it to the main draw could not sustain that form, beaten loud and clear by her Indian compatriot Firoza Bottliwala 11-3, 11-1. Bottliwala shuffled Suganya around, the latter surrendering rather tamely in the end.

The two other Indians Divya Ramesh and Parul Priyadarshini could not be denied their second round berths. Divya packed off the qualifier Shalaka Damle 11-3, 11-5 and Parul did likewise to the Lankan C Desilva 11-5, 11-3.

Funds not Allotted: The possibility of the Indian badminton team not making it to the Commonwealth Games looms large with the Government yet to allot funds even for the training camp scheduled to be held at Bangalore from Aug 1 to 31. BAI Secretary L C Gupta said that it will be an injustice if the team is not cleared for the second time running. At a time when the Indians are exposed to so many tournaments in India and abroad, the participation in Commonwealth Games is imperative for the Indians, Gupta felt. He also clarified that there could be some alterations in the dates of the zonals.

Gopi may take part in BPL tourney: National champion Pullela Gopichand is on the road to recovery and will in all probability play in the BPL Academy tournament which begins in Bangalore on July 19, adds ENS from HyderabadGopichand, who in the Indian Grand Prix tournament at Mumbai sustained an injury on the very knee that had sidelined him in the recent past, expressed surprise at his being top seeded in the Asian Satellite tournament now being held in Chennai. ``I had never confirmed my participation in this tournament,'' he said.

Results: Men's singles (1st round): Wahmed Riyas (Mld) w/o Gopichand (Ind); Palinda Halangoda (SL) w/o Arup Baidya (Ind); Nikhil Kanetkar (Ind) bt S Janaka (SL) 15-5, 15-1. Yeoh Kay Bin (Mas) bt Divender Dhillon (Ind) 15-10, 15-7, Ajit Wijetilak (Ind) bt Md Rasal Kabir (Bgd) 15-10, 15-11, Susant Saxena (Ind) bt Abdulla Shakeb (Mld) 15-6, 15-3, Anuj Gupta (gf-ind) bt Md Mamabubudur Rab (Bgd) 15-10, 15-1, Mayur Ghatnekar (Ind) bt Ali Naser Abdulla (Mld) 15-8 15-7, Parag Modi (Ind) bt Hassan Riyaz (Mld) 15-2, 15-4, Mangrish Palekar (Ind) bt M Fernando (SL) 15-7, 15-7, Sachin Ratti (Ind) bt S Kumarappuma (SL) 15-8, 15-1, Abhin Shyam Gupta (Ind) bt Moosa Nashid (Mld) 15-3, 15-5, Srikant Bakshi (Ind) bt U D Kumar (SL) 15-3, 15-2, Chetan Anand (Ind) bt Mohammad Sharath (Mld) 15-1, 15-3, Lee T Suen Seng (Mas) w.o Ahmed Mohammad (Mld). Men's doubles (1st round): Anirudh Rao-Anuj Gupta bt Mohabuburrab-Md Rasel Kabi (Bng) 15-3, 15-1.