Stunning day for Anand Pawar

January 23, 2012 11:59 pm | Updated October 18, 2016 01:16 pm IST - BANGALORE:

On song: Anand Pawar had a memorable day as he shocked two seeds in the National badminton championship. Photo: K. Murali Kumar

On song: Anand Pawar had a memorable day as he shocked two seeds in the National badminton championship. Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Air India's Anand Pawar produced two stunning upsets in the IFCI 76th senior National badminton championship at the K. Raheja–KBA courts here on Monday.

The unseeded former junior champion, now 25, accounted for defending champion and tournament's sixth seed Aravind Bhat of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board 21-9, 21-19 in the pre-quarterfinal stage in the morning and then returned in the evening to oust R.M.V. Guru Sai Dutt, also of Petroleum Board, in three games.

Pawar, who lost the first game 13-21, came back firing from all cylinders against an opponent, who seemed to run out of steam midway through the second game, and won the next two at 21-12, 21-16.

Pawar was not seeded as he has been playing the International circuit and hardly plays in the domestic tournaments.

It was a sweet revenge for Pawar. In the Rahimtoola Cup final last Friday, Pawar had lost to Aravind Bhat in the first singles of the inter-State team championship final. And this upset was very much on the cards.

Against Aravind in the morning and Sai Dutt in the evening, Pawar was delectable with his control and drop shots and finished the rallies with some powerful smashes on either flanks. Sai Dutt began on a promising note but faded away when Anand unleashed his repertoire.

Sindhu upsets Thulasi

The day was not short of upsets. P.V. Sindhu, a far better player than her seeding in this tournament (ninth) toppled top seed P.C. Thulasi of Kerala in the round of eight. Fifth seed Dhanya Nair in the women's, third seed Mohit Kamat (both from Railways) and fifth seed Pratul Joshi of Air India, all fell by the wayside in the pre-quarterfinal stage.

Aditi Mutatkar, women's defending champion and fourth seed here, survived a close match against Air India's Tanvi Lad in the pre-quarters but made amends with a quick 21-7, 21-7 win over Mohita Sahdev (AAI) in the quarters.

Adithya Prakash lost a close match to a higher ranked K. Nanda Gopal and with it went the last of the Karnataka challenge in the singles.

The results:

Men: Quarterfinals: Sourabh Varma (PSPB) bt Akshit Mahajan (Har) 21-19, 21-15; H.S. Prannoy (PSPB) bt K. Nanda Gopal (AAI) 21-16, 21-16; Anand Pawar (AI) bt Guru Sai Dutt (PSPB) 13-21, 21-12, 21-16; B. Sai Praneeth (PSPB) bt K. Srikanth (AP) 24-22, 21-7.

Pre-quarterfinals: Sourabh Varma bt Rohit Yadav (AAI) 21-10, 21-15; Akshit Mahajan bt Pratul Joshi (AI) 23-21, 17-21, 21-14; H.S. Prannoy bt P. Vinay Kumar Reddy (Rly) 21-6, 21-17; K. Nanda Gopal bt Aditya Prakash (Kar) 20-22, 21-12, 22-20; Anand Pawar bt Arvind Bhat (PSPB) 21-9, 21-19; Guru Sai Dutt bt Mohit Kamat (Rly) 21-13, 14-21, 21-4; K. Srikanth bt Sumeeth Reddy (AAI) 21-6, 8-0, retd.; B. Sai Praneeth bt Mayank Behal (FCI) 21-14, 21-14.

Women: Quarterfinals: P.V. Sindhu (PSPB) bt P.C. Thulasi (Ker) 19-21, 21-11, 21-12; Aditi Mutatkar (PSPB) bt Mohita Sahdev (AAI) 21-7, 21-7; Sayali Gokhale (AI) bt Daya Elsa Jacob (Ker) 21-14, 21-9; Neha Pandit (AAI) bt Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) 21-15, 21-13.

Pre-quarterfinals: P.C. Thulasi bt Mudra Dhainje (AI) 21-17, 21-7; P.V. Sindhu bt Anita Ohlan (Rly) 21-15, 21-13; Aditi Mutatkar bt Tanvi Lad (AI) 24-22, 18-21, 23-21; Mohita Sahdev bt Chitra Lekha (Rly) 21-15, 18-21, 24-22; Daya Elsa Jacob bt Riya Pillai (Mah) 21-11, 21-8; Sayali Gokhale bt N. Sikki Reddy (AAI) 21-8, 21-17; Trupti Murgunde bt Dhanya Nair (Rly) 21-17, 21-13; Neha Pandit bt Saili Rane (AI) 21-12, 15-21, 23-21.

Doubles: (quarterfinals): Men: Arun Vishnu & K. Tarun bt Abhijeet Naimpally & Jagdish Yadav 21-2, 21-9; D. Guru Prasad & Vineeth Manuel bt Arup Baidya & Sachin Ratti 21-12, 21-7; K.T. Rupesh Kumar & Sanave Thomas bt Hemanagendra Babu & Manu Attri 21-19, 21-15; Akshay Dewalkar & Pranav Chopra bt Alwin Francis & Jishnu Sanyal 21-13, 21-15.

Women: Aparna Balan & N. Sikki Reddy bt Saili Rane & Arathi Sara Sunil 21-13, 21-8; K. Maneesha & P. Jyotsna bt Ekata Kalia & Jyoti Rawat 21-17, 21-9; Daya Elsa Jacob & Sneha Santhilal bt Varsha Belawadi & G.M. Nischitha 21-19, 21-17; Pradnya Gadre & Prajakta Sawant bt S.R. Poorvisha & Nitya Sosale 21-16, 21-9.

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