Chetan Anand in final

Third seed Chetan Anand of India ended the impressive run of compatriot Nikhil Kanetkar to storm into the men's singles final in the $10,000 BPL Asian Satellite badminton championships 2001 in Bangalore on Friday. Anand won 15-9, 8-15, 15-6.

In the final of Saturday, Anand will play unseeded Allan Tai of Malaysia, who surprised sixth seed Anupap Thiraratsakul of Thailand in the other semi-final later in the evening.

Tai, the under-21 Malaysia champion, who has been most impressive in the championships, won 17-14, 15-8.

Kanetkar, who had stunned top seeded Englishman Andrew South on Thursday, had, earlier on Friday, recorded a fluent 15-7, 15-5 victory over eighth seeded Jakrapan Thanathiratham, the Thai junior champion, in the quarter-finals.

In the all-Indian women's singles title round on Saturday, top seed B R Meenakshi will cross swords with national champion and second seed Aparna Popat.

The two players registered contrasting semi-final victories. Meenakshi overpowered third seed Salakjit Polsana (Thailand) 13-11, 5-11, 11-9 in 55 minutes, while Aparna thrashed her unseeded Thai opponent, Nucharin Teekhatrakul 11-5, 11-8 in just over half an hour.