Kanetkar stuns top seed South

On a day of upsets, top seeded Andrew South, fourth seed Mathew Shuker, both of England, and seventh seed Lok Tin Tam of Hong Kong crashed out of the BPL Asian badminton championships 2001 in Bangalore on Thursday.

The 21-year-old South, ranked world No. 66 and a finalist at the Swiss and Welsh Opens last season, lost to India's Nikhil Kanetkar 15-6, 11-15, 2-15 in the pre-quarter-finals, the match lasting an hour.

After a strong start, South was unable to sustain the pace as the 22-year-old unseeded Indian Oil Corporation player raised his game several notches to score an upset and storm into the last eight.

A disappointed South later said Kanetkar simply outperformed him.

"Nikhil is a good player. Full marks to him," he added.

South's countryman Shuker, the world number 97, also fell by the wayside. He was surprised by India's Arvind Bhat, who won 15-9, 15-6.

However, fifth seeded Mark Burgess, the other British player in the competition carrying world ranking points, had no difficulty in sidelining India's B G Kiran 15-5, 15-11.

Malaysia's unseeded Allan Tai subdued seventh seeded Lok Tin Tam 15-6, 15-6 to also book his place in the quarter-finals.

In the women's singles, the top three seeds -- B R Meenakshi and Aparna Popat of India and Salakjit Polsana of Thailand -- crushed their opponents to reach the quarters.

Fourth seed Divya Ramesh of India was down with viral fever and conceeded a walk-over to qualifier Shruti Kurien of India.

Earlier, India's Siddharth Jain and Chetan Anand moved into the pre-quarter-finals with contrasting wins.

Second seeded Jain eliminated compatriot J B S Vidyadhar 15-5, 15-11 while third seed Anand had to struggle before overcoming compatriot Joy T Antony 15-5, 16-17, 15-4.

In another match, top seed Andrew South of England defeated India's Nishad Dravid 15-5, 15-11.

Fourth seed Mathew Shuker of England quelled the challenge of Rutupurna Kulkarni of India 15-9, 15-0.

Other seeded players, Mark Burgess of England, Anupap Thiraratsakul of Thailand, Lok Tin Tam of Hong Kong and Jakrapan Thanathiratham of Thailand, also advanced.

In the women's singles, top seeded B R Meenakshi and unseeded P V V Lakshmi reached the quarter-finals with easy 11-6, 11-0 and 11-1, 11-0 victories respectively over fellow-Indians Sampada Shettye and Shalini Prakash.