THE BPL senior prize-money championship, which was a popular National event, has from this year taken a new avatar, that of a Satellite fixture.
It was a promotion well earned by the sponsor, the consumer electronic giant, and the organiser, Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, which have been conducting the show in such a classy fashion over the years.
The BPL Asian Satellite championship (August 8 to 11) was a huge success, with active participation from good teams from Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and England. All the big names of the game at home were there, barring the All England champion Pullela Gopi Chand, who was busy in the World Grand Prix finals in Brunei, Abhinn Shyam Gupta, the French Open champion, who was unwell, and the former National women's champion Manjusha Kanwar, who was recovering from an injury. Former junior champion, Sachin Ratti, who confirmed his participation, failed to turn up.
Despite their absence, the local fans had their fill of top class show and their joy knew bounds when Chetan Anand and Aparna Popat made it an all-India bash, winning the men's and women's singles titles respectively.
The triumph of these two should be looked at in proper perspective and it was an eye opener in many respects. For all those who had been crying hoarse about the need for Indian players to develop speed and power, the Indian singles sweep underlined the fact that the Indian style of play - deception coupled with control and wristy strokeplay, can still be winning factors at the international level.
Even the Bangalore youngster Arvind Bhat, who doesn't play much at this level, displaying those attributes, came up with a dazzling display and troubled a few fancied players. The third seed Chetan Anand rode on his cool temperament, mixing his strokes and came up trumps against the unseeded Malaysian junior champion Allan Tai in the men's final. He won 15-11, 15-7.
The 21-year-old Chetan's promise has never been in doubt. The 1999 junior National champion is technically sound with good strokes. If at all there was a failing, it was his lack of complete focus. Chetan now seems to have crossed that hurdle as he played with superb consistency. The victory over Nikhil Kanetkar in the semi-final and later Allan Tai in the final, underlined that aspect. Chetan has certainly come of age with this maiden triumph in the senior ranks.
"That I hadn't won a senior title was bothering me for some time. Winning a Satellite tournament has given me a lot of confidence and I will concentrate on playing well at the international level," said an elated Chetan, a ward of the noted coach Bhaskar Babu from Vijayawada.
Allan Tai comes from that Malaysian stable where the accent is on speed and relentless attack. The gritty 21-year-old Malaysian simply pounded his way through the early rounds, but came dangerously close to succumbing to Arvind Bhat in the quarter-finals. Chetan checked his rival's power play with a judicious blend of attack and defence. He had Tai in a spot with tight net play and stalled him with deceptive flicks and tosses and came up with dazzling half smashes when least unexpected. It was champion stuff all the way.
Tai began on a familiar note, attacking strongly from the back court and piled up points. But when Chetan was down 1-10, Tai lowered his guard and the Indian began his revival with some magnificent net play. With the crowd roaring for each point, Chetan powered his way back, finding his rhythm and control. He took 10 points in a canter on his serve to jump to a 12-10 lead. A panicky Tai made a spate of unforced errors and lost his grip, allowing Chetan to take the first game on a rousing note at 15-11.
The crowd went delirious with that effort and a charged up Chetan was on a roll from the start in the second game. Tai, who seemed in a daze after the unexpected first game loss, put too many returns over the lines and struggled at 2-7. He did bridge the gap to 5-7, but Chetan snuffed out that brief rally quickly to shut the game and match at 15-5 with a classy net dribble.
Earlier, in an all Indian semi-final, Chetan stopped the talented southpaw Nikhil Kanetkar with a tactically sound display. He beat Nikhil, who has come back from a long lay off following a liver infection, at 15-9, 8-15, 15-6. Allan Tai defeated the sixth seeded Thai, Anupap Thirartsakul 17-14, 15-8.
Nikhil did well to rally from 2-7 down to level at 8-all in the first game before Chetan pulled away to a 15-9 win. In the second game, Nikhil's early lead had Chetan on the defensive and he quickly went down. But in the decider, it was Chetan who dictated the pace with his rival lapsing into errors. Chetan, playing with the right judgment, flicked and dribbled with precision to outwit Kanetkar. It was Chetan's third win over Nikhil.
It was a good show by Nikhil in the tournament. In fact he set the tone for a sparkling Indian show in the meet, knocking out the top seed, Andrew South of England, in the last-16 round.
In the quarter-finals, Chetan and Nikhil posted quick wins, but the second seed Siddarth Jain lost to Anupap Thirartsakul in a stormy tie at 10-15, 11-15. Jain, who has been nursing a knee problem for some time now, was hustled by the frisky Thai and the Indian was even shown a yellow card for dissent and racket abuse on match point by referee Ms. Vrushali Upadhaya. The best performance from an Indian angle came from Arvind Bhat, who beat the fourth seed Mark Burgess of England in the prequarter-finals and stretched Allan Tai with his skilful play. But Tai scraped home at 17-14, 9-15, 15-11.
Aparna Popat returned to centre stage, claiming the women's singles title. National women's champion for the past four years, there are no more peaks at home for Aparna to conquer and her focus is on regaining her place in the world scene, where she was ranked No. 16 in 1999. Now ranked in the 90s, Aparna's win should see her climb by at least 20 points.
"I am looking forward to getting back to where I was. The senior ABC championship will be a crucial meet for me and I am glad that I won here as it put me in the right frame of mind," said a satisfied Aparna.
The technically sound Aparna kept intact her unbeaten streak against B. R. Meenakshi and won 11-5, 11-4, but the tie had its share of exciting moments. Though Aparna was superior, she had a testing time whenever Meenakshi stepped up the pace, caught her napping on the low backhand. But Meenakshi couldn't pull that stuff off too often.
"It was difficult to do that every time, the jump and smash routine can be a taxing effort. I was physically drained in this match as I figured in three finals here. It wasn't too wise a decision to play doubles and mixed doubles along with singles. I should avoid overtaxing myself," said Meenakshi.
Aparna, though trailing 1-5 in the first game, quickly sized up the situation and came up with a brilliant all-court display to end Meenakshi's challenge.
In the semi-finals, both Aparna and Meenakshi had tough times against their Thai rivals. Aparna was run close in both the games by an attacking Nucharin, but the Indian ace found her game midstream and opened up with her blistering strokes to subdue her rival 11-5, 11-8.
Meenakshi, on the other hand, came back from the brink. The 22-year-old Indian battled her way past the determined 17-year-old Thai girl and third seed Salakjit Polsana. The Thai youngster has a good range of strokes, is quick on her feet and quite in contrast to her Indian rival showed better temperament. But what she lacked was experience. She was unable to finish when riding high. This inability was fully exploited by Meenakshi, whose forte is speed. As the Thai slowed near the finish line, the Indian girl quickly wove a web around her, pushing her on the defensive when it mattered the most. Meenakshi won 13-11, 5-11, 11-9.
Polsana, however, had the consolation of winning the women's doubles title, partnering Nucharin. The Thai duo beat the scratch Indian combination of Meenakshi and Oli Deka at 15-4, 15-5. One is bound to hear of Polsana more, the game is in her blood, being the younger sister of Thai men's No. 1 and World No. 28 Boonsak.
In the early rounds, the contests in the women's singles section went on predictable pattern.
There were couple of disappointments though, with the former champion Lakshmi losing in the quarter-finals (to Meenakshi) and Neelima Choudhry, who had been out of action for a while, crashing out in the qualifying round itself, losing to Karnataka girl Shalini Prakash.
The fourth seed Divya Ramesh, who was in the eye of a storm after suing BAI for not selecting her for the World championship squad a few months ago, failed to take the court on medical grounds. On the eve of the main draw events, she developed fever.
The championship also offered the fans a view of some world class action in doubles. This is one area where the Indians still continue to struggle. The Indian challenge ended in the semi-finals and it was the young Malaysian duo, Rosman Razak and Ng Kean Kok, who bagged the title, beating the Thai combination of Kitipon Kitkul and Sudket Prapakamol 11-15, 15-13, 15-2 in an entertaining final.
The National junior champion G. Jwala, who lost in the women's singles quarter-finals to Polsana, was on the winning side in the mixed doubles. In an all-Indian final, G. Jwala and Vidhyadhar defeated B. R. Meenakshi and Sandesh Choutha 15-10, 11-15, 15-9.
The results (all finals, Indians unless specified):
Men's singles: Chetan Anand bt Allan Tai (Mal) 15-11, 15-7.
Women's singles: Aparna Popat bt B. R. Meenakshi 11-5,11-4.
Men's doubles: Rosman Razak / Ng Kean Kok (Mal) bt Kitipon Kitkul / Sudket Prapakamol (Tha) 11-15, 15-13, 15-2.
Women's doubles: Salakjit Polsana / T. Nucharin (Tha) bt B. R. Meenakshi / Oli Deka 15-4, 15-5.
Mixed doubles: G. Jwala / Vidhyadhar bt B. R. Meenakshi / Sandesh Choutha 15-10, 11-15, 15-9.
Semi-finals:Men's singles: Chetan Anand bt Nikhil Kanetkar 15-9, 8-15, 15-6; Allan Tai bt Anupap Thirartsakul (Tha) 17-14, 15-8.
Women's singles: Aparna Popat bt T. Nucharin (Tha) 11-5, 11-8; B. R. Meenakshi bt Salakjit Polsana (Tha) 13-11, 5-11, 11-9.
Men's doubles: Kitipon Kitkul / Sudket Prapakamol bt Roopesh Kumar / Arvind Bhat 15-7, 15-5; Rosman Razak / Ng Kean Kok bt Markose Bristow/ Vijaydeep Singh 15-7, 15-3.
Women's doubles: Salakjit Polsana/ T. Nucharin (Tha) bt G. Jwala/ Shruti Kurien 13-15, 15-8, 15-3; B. R. Meenakshi/ Oli Dekka bt Li Wing Mui/ Siu Ching Man (HK) 17-14, 15-4.
Mixed doubles: G. Jwala/ Vidhyadhar bt Su Ching Man / Lok Tin Tam (HK) 15-6, 15-11; B. R. Meenakshi /Sandesh Choutha bt Trupti Murgande / Jaseel P. Ismail 15-13, 6-15, 15-9.
CHETAN ANAND's long wait for his maiden title in the senior ranks was finally over at the BPL Asian Satellite meet held in Bangalore. The dazzling display by this 21-year-old shuttler augurs well for the game in the country.
Pullela Gopi Chand might be India's pride and joy, but the future belongs to the talented young bunch, which includes Chetan, Siddarth Jain, Nikhil Kanetkar and Abinn Shyam Gupta.
The affable young man from Vijayawada, who began playing the game with his father Harshavardhan, a college lecturer, was thrilled with his maiden senior triumph.
"It was very satisfying and I am happy that I won my first senior title at a Satellite meet. I hope to maintain my form," said Chetan, who is the ward of the noted coach P. U. Bhaskar Babu.
Chetan has made rapid strides ever since he won the National junior title in 1999, is a regular member of the Indian squad and has played in the European circuit, World junior championship, World championships and Thomas Cup finals. His best overseas performance to date is the runner-up spot in the German junior international championship held in Bottrop in 1999.
Chetan was all ready for the Bangalore event. "I came here after playing the Malaysian and Indonesian Opens and after having trained for a week in Vijayawada, I was raring to go and playing well, so I was confident of doing well in the Satellite," said Chetan.
Chetan's game is built on deception and variation. He can slow down even the fastest of players. His approach closely resembles Gopi Chand's style of play, though he is a bit slower than Gopi. "Well, it may be similar to Gopi's style, but I am not modelling my game after him," said Chetan. There are a few chinks in his armour though, he admits. "I have to develop some more speed and get physically stronger. Given the demands of the modern game, this is absolutely essential, I am working on that," he said.
Consistency is another aspect he has to work on. Often he loses from winning positions. One such instance was in the World championship qualifying rounds where he lost a close encounter to Boonsak Polsana of Thailand.
"Couple of silly mistakes cost me that match and a chance to play in the main draw of the World championship. That was also a lesson to me. At the international level such mistakes certainly prove costly," said Chetan.
The new changes in the format of the game should not be a hindrance, felt Chetan. "The new format of seven points a game/ best of five games should not really affect my play. I played a few tournaments on the European circuit with the new format and I feel comfortable with it," he said.
Chetan has high regard for his contemporaries. "All the guys in my age-group are pretty good, like Sachin Ratti, Siddarth Jain and Nikhil Kanetkar and we have a couple of talented youngsters who are coming up, like Nishad Dravid. It is good for the game and it keeps me on my toes," said Chetan.
The player he admires most is maestro Prakash Padukone. "He is a role model in all respects. Another player I admire is Hendrawan of Indonesia. I have not played him yet, but I have watched him. He has got such deceptive style and speed, he can beat the best," said Chetan.
Though badminton is his first love, Chetan has not neglected academics. He is a fourth year Mechanical Engineering student at the Nagarjuna Institute of Technology. "The college and teachers have been very good to me. Though I skip a lot of classes due to tours, they hold special sessions for me. That way I have not missed much," said Chetan.
The season ahead is a hectic one. After the Singapore Open Chetan is scheduled to play in the senior ABC championship and later he will be on his way for the European circuit to play in the German, Dutch and Danish Open championships.
The victory in the Satellite championship is a big step all right, but Chetan has a long way to go. "I am grateful to my family for their support and to BAI for giving me the much needed exposure. There is a responsibility on me to live up to their expectations, perform well and bring laurels to the country," Chetan signed off.
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