Chetan Anand goes down to Indonesian Alamsyah Yunus

Chennai: Top seeded Chetan Anand of India went down to unseeded Indonesian Alamsyah Yunus 21-16, 12-21, 13-21 in semi final of the men singles in the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Grand Prix badminton tournament. In fact, Anand gifted away the match which was well within his reach of winning but credit should be given to crafty Yunus for the manner in which he shifted gears from fast paced game and slow down the speed to rattle the Indian in the second and third games. Yunus now plays seventh seed RMV Guru Dutt, who put aside the challenge of third seed and compatriot Kashyap Parupalli 21-6, 17-21, 21-15. Predictably, World No 6 Saina Nehwal took her appointed place in the women singles final disposing off Indonesia’s Aprilia Yuswandari 21-17, 21-11 to set up a clash with second seed Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia who managed to beat Linda Weni Fanetri of Indonesia 22-20, 21-17.On his making the final, Yunus, ranked 125, said "I feel happy and I played well. He preferred to communicate in gestures that seemed faster than his game that was constructed around long rallies and retrievals". On the other hand Anand admitted that he gave lot of leg rooms for his rival to pull through."I was moving well in the first game and controlled the net. In the second, he kept me in the backcourt and as I slowed down, he drew me to the net where I was catching the shuttle far too low. He was also retrieving extremely well and besides, he has a very good overhead stroke," Anand explained. PTI