India beats New Zealand 3-0, meets Denmark in quarters

Sendai, Japan, May 1 (UNI) Anup Sridhar and Arvind Bhatt toyed with their opponents while Nikhil Kanetkar overcame a dropped game to win the last singles as India blanked New Zealand 3-0 to set up a quarterfinal clash with formidable Denmark in the Thomas Cup badminton tournament here today.

In the first singles, Anup hardly faced any challenge from John Moody as the Kiwi shuttler hardly proved any match and went down in straight games.

Anup took 13 minutes to win the first game and another 11 in the second for a facile 21-15, 21-9 win that fetched the lead for India.

Arvind maintained the tempo in the second singles and once he settled into his rhythm, there was no looking back for the Indian who needed just 23 minutes to quell the challenge from Henry Tam whom he beat 21-17, 21-5 to make it 2-0 for India.

It looked like a cakewalk for India with Nikhil Kanetkar winning the first game against Craig Cooper. But the Kiwi was not ready to surrender and he won the second game to draw parity. However, that was only delaying the inevitable as Nikhil raised his level to win the third game to complete a 21-13, 18-21, 21-10 victory that came in about 40 minutes and India was through to the quarterfinals in a comprehensive fashion.

Results: India beat New Zealand (Anup Sridhar beat John Moody 21-15, 21-9; Arvind Bhatt beat Tam Henry 21-17, 21-5; Nikhil Kanetkar beat Craig Cooper 21-13, 18-21, 21-10) UNI XC AY PG BD1534