He is one of the fittest men on the circuit and he could be a wily player too. K.A Aneesh, the former Karnataka and Kerala champion, outwitted second-seeded Joy T. Antony 21-16, 21-15 in an all-Kochi affair and marched into the above-40 final at the Manorama BWF World senior badminton championships at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium on Saturday.
He will take on Japan’s Hosemari Fujimoto, who beat India’s C.M. Shashidhar, in Sunday’s final.
Meanwhile, Basant Kumar Soni pulled off a surprise victory over Australia’s second-seeded Loke Poh Wong in the over-55 semifinal but there was some disappointment with Olympian Nikhil Kanetkar forced to bow out midway through his over-35 match against Thailand’s Naruenart Chuaymak with an injury.
There was much joy in doubles after former World Cuppers Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar set up an all-Indian final against V. Diju and J.B.S. Vidhyadhar in the men’s above-35 doubles.
The above-45 doubles pair of Srikant Bakshi and Navdeep Singh also progressed to the title round after prevailing over the Swedish pair of Stefan Edvardsson and Ulf Svensson.
Scotland’s Dan Travers, a former Commonwealth Games gold medallist and All-England runner-up in doubles, advanced to the above-60 men’s singles final where he will meet Sri Lankan Arnold Dendeng.
