Pawar powers through to semis

Local boy Anand Pawar played well above his potential as he upset top seed Chetan Anand 21-16, 21-19 and booked a place in the semifinals of the Indian International Satellite badminton championships at the Goregaon Sports Complex here on Thursday.

World No 26 Chetan Anand began the match strongly, smashing his way to a 12-6 lead before Anand  could find his bearing.

Son of the former international, Uday Pawar, Anand then engaged Chetan in long rallies before scoring with deceptive drop shots. Employing these tactics, he restored parity at 16 all, before reeling off the next five points to win the game 21-16.

In the second game, Anand wore down Chetan by keeping the shuttle in play.

It was a close affair before  Chetan made a series of unforced errors to lose 19-21.

“Chetan is a very experienced campaigner. So it was imperative for me to mix things up and I succeeded in doing just that,” Pawar told reporters after the match.

In another quarterfinal match, seventh seed Nikhil Kanetkar advanced with an 21-11, 21-18 win over Korean Kim Dong Hun.

The Pune southpaw will now meet unseeded Korean Jung Moon Min, who upset sixth seed Michel Christensen 23-21, 21-11.

In the women's section, top seed and defending champion Saina Nehwal powered her way past Ruth Misha 21-18, 21-15 and clinched a place in the semi-finals. She now faces unseeded Kim Moon Hi of Korea who got the better of fourth seed Aditi Mutatkar 22-24, 23-21, 21-8. The other semifinal pits second seed Soo Young Jang against Jung Kyun Evn.