Kanetkar shines in India win

Gopichand failed to make it to the Birmingham tournament but the Indians rode on a fine display by young Nikhil Kanetkar to clinch a 3-2 victory over the home team.

Kanetkar, who reached the final of the Scottish Open last week, scored a 8-6 7-5 7-4 victory over English national champion Colin Haughton to put the Indians on the road to victory.

The first game, in which Haughton had two game points at 6-5, was crucial. A few unforced errors around the net by the Englishman allowed Kanetkar to steal it and from then on the Bangalore-based player took much of the initiative as well.

Both players attacked as much as possible, but try as he did Haughton could never get his nose in front again. Whenever he attempted to change things by lifting the shuttle and going on the defensive Kanetkar's smash frequently proved difficult to read.

Kanetkar's unexpected win levelled the scores at 1-1 after a defeat in the opening encounter for 19-year-old Trupti Murgunde. The national junior champion from Pune was beaten 2-7, 2-7, 5-7 by Tracey Hallam, who is in the best form of her life after winning the Thailand Open earlier in the month.

Murgunde was more relaxed in the third game and played better up to 5-5, but even then she could not match Hallam's strength, speed and experience.

England still seemed capable of winning the match after taking a 2-1 lead when the new mixed doubles partnership of Ian Sullivan and Donn a Kellogg won 7-4, 7-1, 3-7, 7-3 against Murgunde and Thomas Kurien.

But home hopes evaporated when Aparna Popat, who had saved seven match-points against Julia Mann in the Commonwealth women's singles semi-finals, made another startling recovery against the English national champion.

This time Popat came back from two games down and, after sneaking the third game, got completely on top. Creating openings with fast clears deep to the backhand and taking them with smashes and sliced drops, Popat changed the pattern of the contest and advanced to a remarkable 1-7, 2-7, 7-5, 7-1, 7-0 win.

There was rarely much doubt that Kurien would win the deciding encounter.

The 21-year-old from Kerala had beaten Andrew South, the England number three, in Glasgow three days before, and now he outplayed him 7-0, 7-4, 7-2.

"It was very useful for our younger players to get more international competition," said team manager Vimal Kumar.

"Although since the Commonwealth Games badminton has become a priority sport, it is still not always easy for them to travel abroad. And it was a good win."