Jwala-Diju advance, Anand goes down fighting

Anand Pawar put up a good fight against 6th seed & world no.7 Boonsak Ponsana, in the first round of the main draw of the Malaysia Open Super Series badminton tournament being held at Kaula Lampur.

However Boonsak finally prevailed over Anand in the close encounter that lasted for 39 minutes. Anand went down fighting 17-21 in the first game and a very close 21-23 in the second. Though Anand has not made it to the next round, such a good performance against a top 10 player seems to augur well for the future.

Earlier Anand had made his way to the main draw yesterday, winning both his qualifying rounds in gruelling 3-set matches.

In an earlier match of the main draw today, Chetan Anand lost to world no.21 Kazushi Yamada 14-21, 17-21.

India's challenge in the womens doubles also ended, when the pair of Jwala Gutta & Ashwini Ponnappa lost to the 5th seeded Chinese pair of Jing Du & Pan Pan (a new combination). Jing Du & Pan Pan won the match 21-11, 16-21, 21-5

The best news of the day for Indian badminton fans, was that in the mixed doubles event, Jwala Gutta & V.Diju advanced confortably to the 2nd round defeating the German pair of Johannes Schoettler & Sandra Marinello 21-12, 21-13


.

Proton Malaysia Open Super Series from 18-23 Jan

The Proton Malaysia Open Super Series badminton tournament is scheduled to be played at Bukit Jalil, in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia between 18-23 Jan-2011.

The Super Series are prestigious badminton events where the top 32 players in the world compete for the title. There are a total of 12 Super Series events held every year at various venues across the globe. From this year onwards BWF (Badminton World Federation) has made some changes to the Super Series format and made it as a 2-tier system. Out of the 12 events, 5 events have been identified and will be called the Super Series Premier offering higher prize money, and the remaining 7 events will be called the Super Series events.

Indian entries for the Proton Malaysia Super Series-2011 event:

In the mens' singles, Chetan Anand, Ajay Jayaram, P Kashyap and Anand Pawar would be seen in action. Chetan Anand & P Kashyap have got a direct entry into the main draw while Ajay & Anand will have to play the qualifying rounds to progress to the main draw.

In the womens' doubles Jwala Gutta & Ashwini Ponnappa are in the main draw & face the Chinese pair of Jing Du & Pan Pan in the first round.

In the mixed doubles, Jwala Gutta & V.Diju have a place in the main draw of the event.

There is no Indian representation in the Mens' doubles event.

There is also no Indian representation in the womens' singles event, since World.No.4 Saina Nehwal has opted out of the tournament, as she is still recovering from an ankle injury and does not want to aggravate her condition. She will later be participating in the Korean Open later this month.





.