PATNA: A fine cross-court drop with a twitch of the wrist that takes the opponent by surprise, and a dribble that just wobbles kissing the net making it doubly difficult for any player to hit it back to the baseline.

Without exaggerating, the 26-year-old Chetan Anand (PSPB), the third seed, has used these shots to near perfection and has literally made the rival dance to his tunes. Chetan dismantled two performing youngsters to make it to the men's final of the BSNL Senior National badminton championships at the Secretariat Sports Club here on Saturday.

Chetan, a 2004 champion, had the measure of Rohan Castellino of Karnataka 21-11, 21-7 in the last-four clash. Earlier in the morning, Chetan fought tooth and nail to defeat a resilient Ajay Jayaram (Maharashtra) 18-21, 21-15, 21-11 in the quarterfinals.

Rohan seemed to be lethargic in the beginning. A good retriever and a relatively quick mover on court, Rohan was caught on the wrong foot by Chetan's half-smashes and drops. You could say it was a Chetan-show all the way.

Self-belief

Twenty-year-old Anand Pawar (Air-India) reached his maiden final with a 22-20, 21-11 win over Ravinder Singh of Uttar Pradesh. For Anand, it has not been an easy path to the summit clash. J.B.S. Vidyadhar stretched him in the pre-quarterfinals, and in the quarterfinals he had to earn every point to eke out a win over the third-seeded Nikhil Kanetkar in three games.

Anand was trailing 16-20 in the first game of the semifinals against Ravinder, but under pressure, he came up with the right shots at the right time to win 22-20. More than tactics and strategy, Anand's self-belief turned out to be his trump card.

Major upset

Earlier, in the morning session, top seed and defending champion Anup Sridhar (PSPB) lost to an inspired Ravinder Singh 10-21, 22-20, 21-18 in the quarterfinals.

Saina Nehwal looks unbeatable. She overpowered Shruti Kurien in the pre-quarterfinals and B.R. Meenakshi in the semifinals. She looks in splendid form to bag her maiden women's title. Of course her opponent in the final, Aditi Mutatkar, too looks good.

The pair of V. Diju of PSPB and Aparna Balan of Kerala clinched the mixed doubles crown in what was the last match of the day.

The results: Men: singles: Semifinals: Chetan Anand (PSPB) bt Rohan Castellino (Kar) 21-11, 21-7; Anand Pawar (AI) bt Ravinder Singh (UP) 22-20, 21-11; Quarterfinals: Ravinder Singh bt Anup Sridhar (PSPB) 10-21, 22-20, 21-18; Anand Pawar bt Nikhil Kanetkar (PSPB) 21-15, 13-21, 21-19; Chetan Anand bt Ajay Jayaram (Mah) 18-21, 21-15, 21-11; Rohan Castellino bt P. Kashyap (AP) 21-18, 19-21, 21-17. Doubles: Semifinals: Rupesh Kumar/ Sanave Thomas (PSPB) bt Markose Bristow/ Jaison Xavier (PSPB) 21-16, 21-11; V. Diju (PSPB)/ J.B.S. Vidyadhar (AP) bt Jaseel P. Ismail (PSPB)/ Jose George (Kar) 21-14, 21-14.

Women: Singles: Semifinals: Saina Nehwal (PSPB) bt B.R. Meenakshi (PSPB) 21-12, 21-9; Aditi Mutatkar (PSPB) bt Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) 21-9, 21-10; Quarterfinals: Saina Nehwal bt Shruti Kurien (PSPB) 21-7, 21-11; Aditi Mutatkar bt Ruth Misha (Kar) 21-9, 3-0 (conceded); B.R. Meenakshi bt Sayali Gokhale (AI) 15-21, 21-13, 21-16; Trupti Murgunde bt Aparna Balan (Ker) 21-11, 16-21, 21-16.

Doubles: Semifinals: Jwala Gutta/ Shruti Kurien (PSPB) bt Anita Ohlan/ Dhanya Nair (Rly) 21-8, 21-9; B.R. Meenakshi (PSPB)/ Aparna Balan (Ker) bt Deepti Shalini (BSNL)/ Deepti Priyadarshini (AP) 21-16, 21-15. Mixed doubles: Final: V. Diju (PSPB)/ Aparna Balan (Ker) bt Vineet Manuel (Kar)/ P. Jyotsna (AP) 21-8, 21-5.

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