Chetan Anand to meet Sachin Ratti in final

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, JUNE 29. On a day devoid of competitive flavour, top seed Chetan Anand and Sachin Ratti set up the men's title clash without exerting much. Even the women's semifinal match between two former National champions, Manjusha Kanwar and P.V.V. Lakshmi, proved a dampener as the latter conceded without putting up a semblance of a fight.

Manjusha, who won the PSCB inter-unit title at the expense of Aparna Popat last week at Panaji, triumphed with a 11- 3, 4-0 verdict in the 48th All-India Railway Open badminton championship at the Karnail Singh Stadium here on Thursday.

Lakshmi, who hardly put up an effort to retrieve drops in the 15- minute duel, pulled out due to a knee injury.

Manjusha will fight against B.R. Meenakshi for the top honours on Friday. Karnataka's Meenakshi, too, had an easy outing, prevailing 11-4, 11-3 over Northern Railway's Parul Priyadarshini.

In the men's section, 20-year-old Chetan Anand stopped the progress of local-lad Madhur Kalia with a 15-5, 15-7 win. Anand asserted himself from the start and never trailed throughout the match.

The other finalist, Sachin Ratti, continued his impressive form with a 15-4, 15-6 victory over fourth seed Thomas Kurien of Kerala. Ratti negated his opponent's effort of increasing the pace with deceptive drops and fine smashes.

lThe results: men's singles (semifinals): Chetan Anand (PSCB) bt Madhur Kalia (NR) 15-5, 15-7; Sachin Ratti (NR) bt Thomas Kurien (Ker) 15-4, 15-6. Quarterfinals: Anand bt Srikant Bakshi (WR) 15- 4, 15-3; Kalia bt Devender Dhillon (Del) 15-11, 11-15, 15-5; Kurien bt J.B.S. Vidyadhar (SCR) 15-11, 17-15; Ratti bt Sanave Thomas (Ker) 15-4, 15-4.

Women's singles (semifinals): B.R. Meenakshi (Kar) bt Parul Priyadarshini (NR) 11-4, 11-3; Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) bt P.V.V. Lakshmi (PSCB) 11-3, 4-0 conceded. Quarterfinals: Meenakshi bt Divya Ramesh (Kar) 4- 11, 11-5, 11-8; Parul bt Oli Dekka (Asm) 11-1, 11-2; Manjusha bt Ketaki Thakkar (AI) 11-7, 11-0; Lakshmi bt Sampada Shetty (WR) 13-11, 9-2 conceded.

Men's doubles (quarterfinals): Vijaydeep Singh (NR)/Markose Bristow (PSCB) bt O.P. Singh (NR)/Harish Chander (Ser) 15-0, 15- 0; J.B.S. Vidyadhar (SR)/Chetan Anand (PSCB) bt Amrish Shinde (CR)/Roy Mathews (SR) 15-2, 15-11; Sanave Thomas/V. Diju (Ker) bt Thomas Kurien (Ker)/B. Nagaraju (SCR) 15- 8, 15-1; Mitesh Hazarnis/Mayur Ghatnekar (WR) bt Ajay Kanwar (Del)/George Thomas (PSCB) 15-9, 15-10.

Women's doubles (quarterfinals): Madhumita Bisht (NR)/P.V.V. Lakshmi (PSCB) bt Manju T. Abraham (LIC)/Tanuja Begum (SR) 15-8, 15-3; Sampada Shetty (WR)/Oli Dekka (Asm) bt Parul Priyadarshini (NR)/Divya Ramesh (Kar) 15-11, 15-7; B.R. Meenakshi (Kar)/Vinaya Shetty (WR) bt Sim Sim Salaria/Nupur Bhide (Mah) 15-7, 15-4; Manjusha Kanwar/Archana Deodhar (PSCB) bt K. Thakkar (AI)/Madhavi Kashikar (CR) 15-7, 15- 6.

Mixed doubles (quarterfinals): B.R. Meenakshi (Kar)/Markose Bristow (PSCB) bt Vinaya Shetty (WR)/Harish Chander (Ser) 15-11, 15-7; Vijaydeep Singh (NR)/Divya Ramesh (Kar) bt K. Thakkar (AI)/Mitesh Hazarnis (WR) 15-8, 9-15, 15-5; M. Kashikar (CR)/J.B.S. Vidyadhar (SCR) w/o Archana Deodhar (Kar)/Ajay Kanwar (Del); Madhumita Bisht (NR)/Mayur Ghatnekar (WR) bt Manju T. Abhram (LIC)/V. Diju (Ker) 14-17, 15-7, 15-4.

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