New Delhi, Aug 20: Top Indian shuttler Nikhil Kanetkar thrashed Aamir Gaffar of England 15-7 15-7 to move into the second round of the Singapore Open while Pullela Gopichand and Aparna Popat booked a place in the main draw. The southpaw, who is one of the two direct entries from India into the main draw of the event, needed only 35 minutes to overcome the Englishman. He now plays Yohan Hadukus Wiratana of Hong Kong in the second round.
Wiratana defeated 13th seed Przemyslaw Wacha of Poland 15-12 15-6 to cause the first upset of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Chetan Anand, who qualified for the main draw last night, lost to Sho Sasaki of Japan 9-15 6-15 to bow out in the first round, according to information received here. Earlier, in the final qualifying round matches played last night, former All England champion Pullela Gopichand, who is returning to competitive badminton after a long break due to injuries, took merely 30 minutes to overcome Asuncion Kennevic of Philippines 15-5 15-7.
In the women's section, Aparna Popat was at her best as she comprehensively beat Commonwealth Games champion Li Li of Singapore 11-8 11-7 before thrashing Miyo Akao of Japan 13-10 11-0 to enter the main draw.
In the first round matches of the main draw, Gopichand plays Yousuke Nakanishi of Japan while Popat will take on 8th seed Hongyan Pi of France. Meanwhile, Arvind Bhat joined J B S Vidyadhar in the losers' list going down to Chong Wei Lee of Malaysia 12-15 15-10 10-15 in the final round of the qualifying draw. Bureau Report