Sony…yet so far,now off to Hyd

Heading into next week’s Indian Open with plenty of confidence from his last one month when he qualified for the main draw of the prestigious tournament,the 22-year old would want to make good those half-chances that come his way,playing at home. Climbing to a perch higher than 2008 Olympian Anup Sridhar in rankings – he’s 41 now – and hoping to live upto his India No 3 status,Pawar expects an easy first round passage at Hyderabad fending off an Indian qualifier,before he runs into Chinese Kai Wen,a Super Series semifinalist last year. The slight-heighted Pawar though wouldn’t dwell much on the rankings,since he is slated to lose points in coming days,having picked them aplenty around the same time last year.

Pawar,from amongst India’s next generation of challengers at the world level,had lacklustre showings in the first two Super Series events at the start of the year,but picked up during the European swing of things,while making the main draw at England,beating higher-ranked Carl Baxter on the way. “That was a close match. I’ve been two match-points down against him earlier at Scotland,and I was glad to come through that one with a win,” he recalled,resuming training on Wednesday – his first session since he arrived home in India after month-long of travelling in Europe.

Prior to that,Pawar had fought his way through a tough draw in the nationals at Indore to make the semifinals,before losing to eventual champion Aravind Bhat. The Mumbaikar is hoping to go deeper still into draws of the forthcoming events – the ABC after the Indian Open. At Hyderabad,Pawar expects quick shuttles in a court that plays fast – conditions not unfavourable to the type of game,he plays. Pitted in the top half of the draw,where he can run into top-seed and World No 1 Chong Wei Lee soon enough,Pawar believes that at Hyderabad he has a good chance to take the next step. The Peter Gade-fan – he admits he cheered lustily for the Dane and frowned when the European legend went down to Taufik Hidayat – though,believes that the Indonesian maverick can only add to the colour at the Indian Open.