PUNE, Jan 4: It was an ominous start to the Vth Late V.V. Natu all-India badminton meet. The withdrawal of third seeded Sachin Ratti (Railways) alongwith the early exits of two seeded players left just the top seed in the fray after the completion of the pre-quarter final rounds today.At the WIE Sports Complex today, the day began with Sachin failing to turn up at the venue for reasons best known to himself, leaving the organisers high and dry after the player confirmed his entry.With the first round matches going on expected lines the evening session, which featured the round of 16 matches, was in for some fireworks. First, Chetan Anand of Air India kept his head-to-head record against fourth seeded Mangrish Palekar intact to cause an upset. Chetan, runners-up in the Junior National's at Chennai, took just 35 minutes to push his seeded opponent out 15-8, 15-8.However, if the 18-year-old Anand delighted the crowd, Vijay Lancy who caused the next upset took the day's honours.Vijay, a former international, put aside the challenge of No. 2 Shrikant Bakshi (Railways) in what could be termed as a `comeback' win. Vijay, playing after a five month lay-off owing to an operation on his heel, won a marathon of a tie lasting an hour and 10 minutes and lasting three games 15-17, 15-10, 15-13.Admitting that the game tired him, Vijay informed that he had, `no problem' with the injury. ``I knew that I had to play well to sustain my fitter opponent, and it worked,'' Vijay added. Interestingly, the last match Vijay played was against Shrikant at the CCI, Mumbai in June, during the Commonwealth Games trials, where he had to concede owing to his heel.The lone seed to survive was top-seed Abhinn Shyam Gupta (A-I) who joins Chetan and Vijay in the quarter-finals.Results(Men's Singles; Pre Q/F): 1-Abhinn Shyam Gupta (A-I) b Pravin Gehlawani (Dli); Amrish Shinde (Rly) b Ashish Chaddha (Dli) 15-4, 15-13; Chetan Anand (A-I) b 4-Mangrish Palekar (Rly) 15-8, 15-8; B Kiran Kumar (A-I) b Jaison Xavier (Ker) 15-6, 15-9; J.B.S Vidyadhar (Rly) b Devinder Dhillon (Dli) 17-14, 12-15, 15-1; Nimesh Goyal (Mah) b Jose George (Ker) 15-5, 15-11; Parag Modi (A-I) b D Vijay Khanna (AP) 15-9, 15-10; Vijay Lancy (Mah) b 2-Shrikant Bakshi (Rly) 15-17, 15-10, 15-13.(Men's Singles; I Round): 1-Abhinn Shyam Gupta (A-I) b Rutuparna Kulkarni (Mah) 15-4, 15-7; Pravin Ghelavat (Del) A Prithvi (AP) 7-15, 15-7, 15-13; Amrish Shinde (Mah) b Alok Singh (Mah) 12-15, 15-6, 15-7; Ashish Chadda (Del) b P.S.B Nagendra (Ktk) 15-8, 15-7; 4-Mangrish Palekar b Tarun Chauhan (Del) 15-4, 15-2; Chetan Anand (A-I) b Abhisek Bakshi (Ktk) 15-10, 11-15, 15-9; Jaison Xavier (Ker) b S.S Kannan (TN) 13-15, 15-7, 15-10; B Kiran Kumar (A-I) b Vikrant Patwardhan (Mah) 15-10, 15-5; J.B.S Vidhyadhar (Rly) b Mayur Ghatnekar (Rly) 17-14, 15-5; Jose George (Ker) W/o 3-Sachin Ratti (Rly); D Vijay Khanna (AP) b Sanket Shetty (Rly) 17-15, 15-1; Parag Modi (A-I) b Vivek GAutam (Mah) 15-7, 15-7; Vijay Lancy (Mah) b Sushant Niddodhi (AP) 15-7, 15-11; 2-Shrikant Bakshi (Rly) b Sushant Niddodhi (A-I) 15-7, 15-11.(Men's Doubles): B Chetan Anand/Mitesh Hazarnis (A-I) b Chiranjeet Singh Narayan (AP) W/o; Mayur Tawade/Hemant Hardikar (Mah) b Guvardhan Reddy/Venkesh Rao (AP) W(Women's Singles; I Round): Ketaki Thakar (A-I) b Krupa Telang (Mah) 11-5, 11-9.(Women's Doubles; I Round): Ketaki Thakar/ D Shewta (A-I) b Meenakshi Waugh/Asawari Patwardhan (Mah) W/o; Trupti Murgunde/Meena Patwardhan (Mah) b Tanuja Begam/B Tara (Ker) W
