Olympian Nikhil Kanetkar showed flashes of his old form as he defeated Germany’s Henrik Westermeyer 21-11, 19-21, 21-10 and entered the above-35 men’s semifinal of the Manorama BWF World senior badminton championship at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Friday.
The 38-year-old has now been assured of at least a bronze which a semifinal entry offers. The left-hander was comfortable in the opening set but he ran into problems towards the end of the second set before recovering nicely in the decider.
Meanwhile former national champion Abhinn Shyam Gupta bowed to top seed Stanislav Pukhov of Russia 23-25, 21-19, 21-8 in the other above-35 quarterfinal. and crashed out.
Gupta was slow this evening and as the match moved into the third set, life became difficult for the Indian. Pukhov just had to move Gupta around in the decider to race to victory.
Meanwhile, the host had something to celebrate too with former Kerala champion K.A. Aneesh and Joy T. Antony winning their above-40 quarterfinals and getting into the medal round.
The unseeded Aneesh defeated England’s third-seeded Carl Jennings in straight sets while Antony, the second seed, beat Japan’s Takuya Yamamoto in similar fashion.
The top-seeded Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar along with V. Diju and J.B.S. Vidyadhar were among the above-35 men’s doubles winners. Former National champion George Thomas and Bhushan Akut (over-50), Deepak Amarnath and Ajit Wijetilak (over-40) also entered the semifinals.
