The Hindu : Bora to meet Dinesh in final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 04, 2003

Sport

Sport - Badminton

Bora to meet Dinesh in final

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI JULY 3 . Sweat dripping and the laboured movements mirrored the tight contest that went neck and neck before Bahniman Bora, the Assam lad who trains at the SAI Centre in Bangalore showed his ability to grab the final points to end the quest of top seed Nishad Dravid (Maharashtra) in the boys' under-19 semi-final on Thursday in the Krishna Khaitan memorial all- India junior badminton tournament.

The outcome was an upset, considering that Bora was seeded only fourth, but then the Assam player is the defending champion and to that extent he had justified his status.

It is doubtful if Bora had touched this level of efficiency in recent times. Perhaps that explained why he was seeded lower. But at the Nehru indoor stadium today he brought out his best as he lifted the game when it mattered most.

In terms of a contest it had everything for the lovers of the game: the delicate drops at the net, the deceptive taps to the corners and the mid-court smashes, not to mention some remarkable returns. After all both players have been junior national champions earlier.

Leading 13-9 in the first game and when the Pune Engineering College student looked set to wrap the game came Bora's purple patch — he not only caught up but also overtook his rival. Similar was the second game as it was Nishad who clawed back from 8-12 arrears to draw level only to find his Assam rival reserve his best for the end game.

The other semifinal looked an endless contest. Andhra Pradesh's Dinesh looked a specialist in stretching a game, thanks to his fighting qualities. The southpaw made light of his first game loss to check his highly energetic rival in Mayank Behl of Punjab.

Mayank showed he was adept in the touch game and in smashes, something that required Dinesh to tighten his defence. It is a credit to the Andhra boy's resilience and purposeful approach that he was able to tire out his rival and carve a creditable win in three games that last over an hour and a quarter.

The girls final will feature Saina Nehawal (AP) and Aditi Mutatkar of Maharashtra, traditional rival on the national scene. The two had easy wins.

The results:

Boys under-19 (semifinals): Bahniman Bora (Assm) bt Nishad Dravid (Mah) 15/13, 15-13; T. Dinesh (AP) bt Mayank Behl (Pun) 13-15, 17-14, 15-6.

Quarterfinals: Nishad Dravid bt Anshuman Hazarika (Asm) 17-16, 17-14; Bahniman Bora bt Sagar Chopra (Mah) 15-6, 4-15, 15-5; T. Dinesh bt Sumit Dhaiya (Har) 15-2, 15-3; Mayank Behl bt Ajay Jayaram (Mah) 10-15, 15-8, 15-12.

Under-16 (semifinals): Jishnu Sanyal (WB) bt Ajay Jayaram (Mah) 16-17, 15-2, 15-2; Sankar Gopan (Ker) bt Saurva Kapoor (Har) 15-6, 15-1.

Quarterfinal: Ajay Jayaram bt Sunranjan Bhobora (Asm) 15-8, 15-0; Jishnu Sanyal bt Amey Joshi (Mah) 15-4, 15-13; Sankar Gopan bt Mandeep (Chandi) 15-2, 15-9; Saurav Kapoor bt G.M. Nandish (Karna) 15-13, 6-15, 15-7.

Under-13 (semifinals): Parin Chopra (Mah) bt Nirendra Singh (UP) 15-2, 15-4; Pratik Patel (Guj) bt Saurabh Verma 9MP) 15-4, 15-4.

Quarterfinal: Parin Chopra bt Anshuman Bora (Asm) 15-1, 15-0; Saurabh Varma bt Aditya Prakash (Karna) 15-7, 15-6; Pratik Patel bt Rajkumar (Pun) 15-10, 15-5

Under-10 (semifinals): Shivam Sharma (UP) bt Vijeta (AP) 15-12, 13-15, 15-7; J. Harsha (AP) bt Neepjyothi Gogoi (Asm) 15-9, 7-15, 15-8; quarterfinals: Vijeta bt Ankur Phukan (Asm) 15-9, 15-2; Shivam Sharma bt Pranab Saligram (Mah) 15-4, 15-8; Neepjyothi Gogoi bt Aditya Kiran (AP) 15-0, 15-5; J. Harsha bt Tirnankur Nag (WB) 15-9, 15-10.

Girls Under-19 (semifinals): Saina Nehwal (AP) bt Sayale Gokhale (Mah) 11-2, 11-4; Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) bt Neha Pandit (Mah) 11-6, 11-4.

Quarterfinals: Saina Nehwal bt Dhanya Nair (Mah) 11-2, 9-11, 11-7; Sayali Ghokale bt Aparna Balan (Ker) 9-11, 11-8, 11-6; Neha Pandit bt Riddhi Patwani (Mah) 12-13, 11-6, 11-3; Aditi Mutatkar bt Sarada Govardhini (AP) 11-0, 11-2.

Doubles (quarterfinals): E. Deepthi Salani (AP) and Riddhi Rajwani (mah) bt T.Sowmya (AP) and Abandika Deka (Asm) 15-7, 15-0; Sharada Goverdhan and Nivedita (AP) bt Neha Rane and Sonal Rane (Mah) 12-15, 15-4, 15-5; Sayali Gokhale and Gayathri Kochak (Mah) bt A.S.Aswini and Jyothi Swarupa (AP) 11-15, 15-5, 15-13; Dhanya nair (Mah) and Aparna Balan (Ker) bt A. Divya and A. Priya (TN) 15-3, 15-9.

Under-16 (semifinals): Saina Nehwal (AP) bt Neha Pandit (Mah) 11-0, 11-5; Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) bt Gayathri Vartik (Mah) 11-2, 11-0; quarterfinals: Saina Nehwal bt Sonal More (Mah) 11-6, 11-3; Neha Pandit bt G.M. Nischita (Karn) 4-11, 11-6, 11-7; Gayathri Vartik bt Neha Rane (Mah) 11-1, 9-11, 11-4; Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) bt Anjali Kalita (Asm) 11-4, 11-3.

Under-13 (semifinals): I.R.D. Shravani (AP) bt Moharmal Mukherjee (WB) 11-2, 11-5; Vinitha Ghate (Mah) bt Vaishali Baria (Guj) 11-9, 11-7.

Quarterfinals: I.R.D. Shravani bt P.C. Tulsi (Ker) 11-7,11-7; Moharmal Mukherjee bt Jancy James (AP) 11-9, 11-2; Vaishali Baria bt Shruthi Sreedhar (Karna) 11-6, 9-11, 11-2; Vinita Ghate bt Yashica Poonacha (Karna) 11-9, 11-3.

Under-10 (semifinals): Priyadarshinidip (Asm) bt Manasi (MP) 11-3, 11-4; Taanya Ravi (Karna) bt Daya Ela Jacob (Ker) 11-7, 11-7; (quarter-final): Priyadarshini bt Vijetha (MP) 11-4, 13-11; Manasi bt R. Leela Lakshmi (Ap) 11-7, 11-5; Daya Ela Jacob bt M. Alvia Sanaila (AP) 11-7, 5-11, 13-12; Taanya Ravi bt Leela Manasa (AP) 11-2, 11-2.

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