Sridhar, Saina in Mahajan quarters

Recuperating from an ankle injury World Championship quarterfinalist Anup Sridhar did not show his true class but overcame his opponent Sagar Chopra 21-16, 19-21, 21-15 in the men's pre-quarterfinals of the All-India Pramod Mahajan memorial badminton tournament played at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here on Thursday.

In the women's section, Saina Nehwal warmed up with an easy victory over Ashwini Ponnappa in the pre-quarterfinals after a bye in the first round, while qualifier Sikki Reddy got past Aparna Balan

Anup got a good fight from his opponent Sagar, who notched a game form Sridhar, though he had not won a game off him in any of their previous meetings. Sagar showed tremendous fightback, after losing the advantage from a 19-16 lead in the second game to finally pull it off in his favour.

However Sagar who was riding high on morale in the deciding rubber could not match his opponent experience at the crunch situations after Anup had taken a 9-3 lead with a seven-point stretching.

In the other matches of the day, Ajay Jayaram knocked out B. Chetan Anand in straight games while the young R. M. V. Guru Sai Datt pushed Arvind Bhatt to his wit's end before he prevailed 23-21 in the decider.

K. Tanishk had to sweat it out against qualifier Srujan Nandaluri in another three-game thriller.

RESULTS

Men (pre-quarterfinals):

Anup Sridhar bt Sagar Chopda 21-16, 19-21, 21-15; K. Tanishk bt Srujan Nandaluri 21-17, 14-21, 22-20; Anand Pawar bt Tanveer Gill 21-11, 21-12; Arvind Bhatt bt R. M. V. Guru Sai Datt 22-20, 18-21, 23-21; J. B. S. Vidyadhar bt Utsav Mishra 18-21, 21-19, 21-13; Ajay Jayaram bt Chetan Anand 21-13, 26-24; Sachin Ratti bt Hemant Duggal 21-11, 21-12; P. Kashyap bt Jishnu Sanyal 21-13, 21-12.

First round: Anup Sridhar bt Sumit Dahiya 21-14, 21-10; Sagar Chopda bt Himanshu Kharbanda 21-15, 21-17; Srujan Nandaluri bt Ravinder Singh 21-16, 21-19; K. Tanishk bt Ajit Vijetilak 22-20, 21-19; Anand Pawar bt Arup Baidya 21-18, 21-5.

Tanveer Gill bt Mayank Behal 7-21, 21-19, 21-13; Arvind Bhatt bt N. N. Vinayak 21-10, 21-16; R. M. V. Guru Sai Datt bt Rajiv Bajaj 21-19, 21-13; Utsav Mishra bt Manish Rawat 18-21, 21-10, 21-16.

J. B. S. Vidyadhar bt Anshuman Hazarika 21-15, 21-19; Ajay Jayaram bt Saurav Kapoor 21-17, 21-12; Chetan Anand bt V. Amar 21-11, 21-14; Hemant Duggal bt C. M. Shashidhar 21-15, 21-12; Sachin Ratti bt Rohit Ranaut 21-10, 21-5; Jishnu Sanyal bt Mohit Kamat 5-5 (retired); P. Kashyap bt Abhinn Shyam Gupta 23-21, 21-16.

Women (pre-quarterfinals): Saina Nehwal bt Ashwini Ponnappa 21-3, 21-11; Anita Ohlan bt Gayatri Vartak 21-17, 21-18; Aditi Mutatkar bt Parssa Naqvi 21-12, 17-21, 21-12; Abantika Deka bt Parul Rawat 21-17, 21-13; Dhanya Nair bt B. R. Meenakshi 23-21, 21-12.

Sikki Reddy bt Aparna Balan 21-14, 21-19; Sayali Gokhale bt Chitralekha 21-12, 11-21, 21-8; Trupti Murgunde bt Neha Pandit 21-13, 21-4.

First round: Ashwini Ponnappa bt Manali Sinha 21-16, 21-11; Anita Ohlan bt Gauri Chopra 21-5, 21-9; Parssa Naqvi bt Poonam Tewari 21-16, 24-22; Abantika Deka bt Saumya Padhye 21-17, 24-22; B. R. Meenakshi bt Sampada Sahasrabuddhe 21-9, 21-9; N. Sikki Reddy bt Mohita Sahdev 21-15, 21-18; Chitralekha bt V. Ruth Misha 21-18, 21-13; Neha Pandit bt Gayatri Kochak 21-13, 21-15.

SOME OTHER SPORTING EVENTS

Saini's all-round show

An all-round performance by Kapil Saini (30 not out and three for 31) helped Sumit Dogra Academy to clinch a three-wicket victory over Young Friends in the pre-quarterfinals of the Lala Ram Charan memorial cricket tournament played at the Bharag Nagar ground.

The scores: Young Friends 123 in 33.3 overs lost to Sumit Dogra Academy 124 for seven in 26.1 overs.

Mayank, Harvinder shine

Fine batting by Mayank Gupta and a four-wicket haul by Harvinder Singh guided Rajeev Sharma Academy to beat Chetan Chauhan Academy by 63 runs in the 8th Shakuntala Dogra memorial cricket tournament played at the Chilla Sports Complex.

Scores : Rajeev Sharma Academy 235 for seven in 40 overs (Mayank Gupta 88, Rohit Sharma 67) beat Chetan Chauhan Academy 172 (Harvinder Singh four for 38) .

Thing nets City's winner

A first-half solitary goal by P. K. Thing guided Walled city favourites City Football Club to score an important 1-0 win over Shahdara FC in a group ‘A' match of the DSA super league played at the Ambedkar Stadium here on Thursday.

P. K. Thing scored the lone goal in the 40th minute off a fine pass from Nigerian player Ola Thofeek that later turned out to be the match-winner. City has three points from two matches, while Shahdara is yet to open its account after two matches.

Desert rally storms on March 15

The Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm rally will be flagged off from capital's National Stadium on March 15. The rally will be run in three sections: Trail, Excite and Explore. Trail category is open only to specially prepared vehicles while the other two are open to normal vehicles.

Excite version is only for four-wheeler drive vehicles. The early entries are open till January 15, while Standard entries close on February 15 and the late entries and team entries will conclude on March 10.