Ashwini fired out former National champion P V V Lakshmi of BPCL, who was off colour, 11-1, 11-8 to move into pre-quarterfinals. Bhat clawed back to shut the door on junior champion Thomas Kurien of Kerala 6-15, 15-12, 15-11 for a berth in the last 16.

In a minor upset, Kiran Kumar of Air-India edged past Mangrish Palekar of Railways, who is in the camp, 15-1, 7-15, 15-10.

Tournament favourite P Gopi Chand of Indian Oil Corporation, faced little resistance from Devinder Dhillon of Andhra Pradesh during his 15-6, 15-9 victory. Three other seeded players also advanced without much ado.

Second seed Abhinn Shyam Gupta of Air-India took time to settle down against Ashihs Chadda of Delhi and won 15-13, 15-2. After conceding easy points in the first game, the Air-India shuttler tightened his game and won withease.

Vijay Khanna of Andhra Pradesh was no match for third seed Ajit Wijetilek of BPCL. Wijetilek won 15-10, 15-2.

The other seeded player Nikhil Kanetkar of Indian Oil Corporation outgunned Gururpasad of Karnataka 15-6, 15-7.

Others to make the last 16 were Taurn Chauhan from Delhi, Vikrant Patwardan from Maharashtra, J B S Vidyadhar from Andhra Pradesh, Joy T Antony from Kerala, Siddarth Jain from ONGC, Sushant Saxena from Uttar Pradesh, Sachin Ratti from Railways, Chetan Anand, Abhishek Bakshi (both A-I) and Vijay Lancy (BPCL).

In the women's section, Shruthi Kurien and G Jwala (both from Andhra Pradesh), Sampada Shetye and Parul Priyadarshini (both from Railways), Ketaki Thakar from Air-India, Tanuja Begum from Kerala and Pooja Patil from Karnataka advanced into the second round.

A few matches in the men's section went full distance and saw nail biting finishes.

Saxena staved off a stiff challenge from Amrish Shinde of Railways at 15-6, 12-15, 17-15. Chetan Anand was stretched by talentedAbhijeet Naimpally of Karnataka. The Karnataka state champion won the first game, but allowed Chetan to come back. The Air-India player won 15-13, 8-15, 15-13.

Bakshi of Air-India also survived a scare against Sanket Shetty of Maharashtra before winning at 9-15, 15-7, 15-11.

Results (1st round): Men: P Gopi Chand (IOC) bt Devinder Dhillon (AP) 15-6, 15-9; Tarun Chauhan (Del) bt Parag Modi (A-I) 6-15, 15-6, 15-10; Vikrant Patwardan (Mah) bt Anuj Gupta (Guj) 17-14, 15-7; Arvind Bhat (Kar) bt Thomas Kurien (Ker) 6-15, 15-12, 15-11; Nikhil Kanetkar (IOC) bt Guruprasad (Kar) 15-6, 15-7; J B S Vidydhar (AP) bt Anup Sridhar (Kar) 15-4, 15-4; Kiran Kumar (A-I) bt Mangirish Palekar (Rlys) 15-1, 7-15, 15-10; Joy T Antony (Ker) bt Srinivasan (AP) 13-15, 15-3, 15-12; Siddarth Jain (ONGC) bt K A Anish (Ker) 8-15, 15-10, 15-9; Sushant Saxena (UP) bt Amrish Shinde (Rlys) 15-6, 12-15, 17-15; Chetan Anand (A-I) bt Abhijeet Naimpally (Kar) 15-13, 8-15, 15-12; Ajit Wijetilek (BPCL) bt Vijay Khanna (AP) 15-10, 15-2;Vijay Lancy (BPCL) bt Parveen Gehlawat (Del) 15-7, 15-11; Sachin Ratti (Rlys) bt Jaison Xavier (Ker) 15-9, 15-7; Abhinn Shyam Gupta (A-I) bt Ashish Chadda (Del) 15-13, 15-2; Abhishek Bakshi (A-I) bt Sanket Shetty (Mah) 9-15, 15-7, 15-11.

Women: Shruti Kurien (AP) bt Leena Pednekar (Goa) 12-13, 11-7, 11-9; Pooja Patil (Kar) bt Glory Xavier (Ker) 11-7, 11-5; Ketaki Thakar (A-I) bt Sridevi Gadili (Kar) 11-3, 11-9; B N Ashwini (Kar) bt P V V Lakshmi (BPCL) 11-1, 11-8; Thanuja Begum (Ker) bt S Sarada Reddy (AP) 11-7, 8-11, 13-10; G Jwala (AP) bt Madhavi Kashikar (Mah) 11-9, 11-2; Parul Priyadarshini (Rlys) bt Shalini Prakash (Kar) 11-5, 11-5; Sampada Shetye (Rlys) bt Ruchi Kapil (UP) 11-9, 11-9.