Top seed Anand faces tough opener

AMIT NEWTON

LUCKNOW, JANUARY 7: With reigning champion Pullela Gopichand missing from the scene, it should have been a cake-walk for Chetan Anand, who is the top seed for the men’s singles event at the National Badminton championships, underway at the KD Singh Babu Stadium here.

But that is not the case. For Chetan faces the prospect of a stiff challenge from teammate Abhin Shyam Gupta and Railways’ Sachin Ratti for the men’s crown. Similarly, the fight for top honours in the women’s section will be between the top two seeds - Aparna Popat and PVV Lakshmi. But reiging champion Popat has the odds in her favour.

But who gets the better of whom will be known when the seeded players, who got a first-round bye, start their title campaign from the second round.

Meanwhile, in the men’s section, four players each from Railways and Maharashtra moved into the second round with easy victories in their opening encounters.

The women’s section saw two each from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Chandigarh and Gujarat make progress with easy triumphs.
For the local shuttlers, barring Anoop Mehrotra and Ruchi Kapil it was a dismal show by the rest.

Meanwhile, the organisers have received a total of 110 entries in the men’s singles event, 60 in the doubles section, 88 in women’s singles, 43 in the doubles and 22 in the mixed doubles category.

In the first round draw 30 matches in men’s section (with two walkovers) and 36 matches in the women’s sections (with three walkovers), have been gone through and the results were on the expected lines. The total prize money on offer at this nationals is Rs 8 lakh.