India is out of the Indonesian Masters badminton championships being held in Jakarta. Shrikant Kidambi and Prannoy and our top men’s doubles combination of Saisatwik Rankareddy and Chirag Shetty had withdrawn from the BWF 500 event where most of the top world players were playing.
Even in this depleted squad lot was expected of Lakshya Sen and former world champion PV Sindhu. But both these stalwarts disappointed us, to say the least.
Every time that Sindhu walks onto the court for a match, our expectations are heightened and we all expect a typical bulldozing of the opponent as she unleashes her devastating smashes, peppering and puncturing, the opponent’s court at will.
But alas we have not seen that performance from her for quite some time. For some reason, she is simply not playing with that fire and self-confidence. How we loved those screams of triumph from her when she snatched a difficult point. That look on her face of serene concentration, that vibrant body chemistry and totally positive body language which meant business and that quintessential street fighter hustling game which put the badminton world on notice.
She clearly is in great trouble and has to go back to the drawing board to decipher what has gone wrong with her game. There could be many varied reasons but for the sake of Indian badminton Sindhu and her coaches have to find the problem and remedy it.
And it is not just the top players who are playing with her psychology and giving her heartburn, but also players who are simply not in her league, who have been taking her to three games and making her look real vulnerable.
In the Indonesian open for example against Line Christensen of Denmark, the Indian shuttling queen won in three games 18-21/21-15/21-9. Then in the second round, she really struggled against Gregoria Mariska of Indonesia. Sindhu really struggled to slug out a 23-21/20-22/21-11 win. Against both these players, she could muster her game only in the decider.
Reaching the quarterfinals she ran into the 2013 world champion, the enigmatic and magical Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. Ratchanok with a perpetual smile on her face is actually a smiling assassin on the court. Thrice world Junior champion, she is a graceful mover on court, with real economic movements, never in a hurry but her fantastic sense of anticipation ensures that she moves as if on rollerskates.
Ratchanok playing her 14th match against Sindhu easily made it 9-5 head to head and also won her fifth consecutive victory against the hapless Indian. Ratchanok dominated every aspect of the match to ruthlessly demolish Sindhu with clinical efficiency 21-12/21-10 in a forgetful match as far as Sindhu was concerned. It took just 33 minutes for Ratchanok to stamp her authority.
She was very fast in coming to the net and very articulate in her stroke selection. So many variations on the net strokes that Sindhu just did not know what to do. She had no game plan or tactics in place.
From overhead deep baseline area, Ratchanok can play really deceptive shots and also down the line perfectly executed scorchers which kissed the line time and again.
Ratchanok led in both the games right from the start, plucking points at will against Sindhu who made mistakes galore as she was beaten by the speed with which Ratchanok pounced on the shuttle.
And Sindhu was guilty of a crime. When you hit a cross-court smash you must think whether you are in a good position to reach the return if it comes on the opposite side, close to the net the farthest distance from you. A frustrated Sindhu lost a few points as she just could not reach the return.
All in all, a match, Sindhu would not like to remember.
The only other Indian in the fray was Aakarshi Kashyap who qualified for the main draw. She defeated Sirada of Indonesia 16-21/21-9/21-9.
In the mixed doubles veteran pair of Ashwini Ponappa and Sumeet Reddy qualified for the main draw defeating Nishikawa and Saori Ozaki of Japan 17-21/21-18/21-14.
In women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponappa and Sikki Reddy could not make magic on the court and were hustled out 21-18/21-9 by Pushpita Sari/ Rachel Rose of Indonesia in the first round. Ditto with the young pair of Simran Singhi and Rikita Thaker who were ousted in the first round as well by second seeds Lee Sohee/Shin Chan 21-10/21-12.
With Saisatwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty absent from the fray, India’s men’s doubles was left to Manu Attri and Sumeet Reddy to fly the flag. But they were shown the exit by Pramodya Kusumawardhana and Yacob Rambitan of Indonesia 21-19/11-21/8-21.
Apart from Lakshaya Sen, three other Indians were in the fray. In the men’s singles. Sameer Verma lost to Chico Aura Dwi 17-21/15-21. Shubhanker Dey lost to Fazal Muhammad 22-20/10-21/12-21. Gulshan Kumar played in qualifying Soong Jio but lost 16-21/21-9/14-21.
Much is expected from the Almora boy Lakshya Sen, especially after his great showing in the German and the All England championships and in the India Open.
This prodigy of sorts had a remarkable time on the BWF circuit since last year, defeating every top player on this planet, including that memorable victory over world no 1 Viktor Axelson in the semis of the German open. Suffering from food poisoning in the initial stages of the Thomas Cup when group matches were taking place Sen went to play against Chinese Taipei where he lost his match to Chou Tien Chen.
One would have thought that a fit and furious Lakshya would take on Chou and be an easy winner but the crafty and cunning Chou won the three-game encounter 16-21/21-12/21-14 in the quarters.
Early on in round one, the Indian had accounted for Danish player Vittinghus
21-19/21-18 and in round 2 he accounted for yet another Dane, the dangerous Rasmus Gemke 21-18 /21-15. And he was in superlative form. Dribbling, smashing and covering the court with great elan. All his tricks were on display. Blunting Gemke’s attack with those full-length dives all over the court, really frustrated the Dane, who ran out of ideas.
Leading throughout this match, the first time the two have met, Lakshya came out with his signature cross-court half smashes delivered off a leap and his sharp dribbles were simply unplayable. True there were mistakes here and there, but the Indian kept his exuberance on a leash and played a matured game, rather than an impulsive one.
The hard-working Gemke was strong in the first game, running neck to neck, but after 15-15, Lakshya pulled away maintaining a two-point lead. In the second he came out all guns blazing and did not allow Gemke to play into any rhythm. He was a worthy winner.
Against Chou Tien Chen, the Indian started off brilliantly snatching the first game 21-16, but thereafter he fell into a rash of errors and lost control over the proceedings as he crashed out 12-21/14-21 in 54 minutes
One hopes that in the Indonesian Open next week, our players come up with a better display and that PV Sindhu brings back the old glory which won her two Olympic medals and the world championship title.
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