Unmukt makes the difference, Delhi win
ODENSE: In the end PV Sindhu’s giant-killing run ended one step short, losing 19-21, 12-21 to Olympic badminton champion Li Xuerui of China in the women’s singles final of the Denmark Open Super Series Premier here on Sunday.
World Championships bronze medallist Sindhu lost to the former World No 1 in 47 minutes.
With the win, her 13th Super Series title, Xuerui took a
3-2 lead in career meetings against world No 13 Sindhu.
Sindhu had earlier defeated third seed Tai
Tzu Ying of Taiwan, sixth seed Yihan Wang of China and two-time reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain in her previous three matches. NEW DELHI: But for Unmukt Chand’s 99, Delhi could have been flattened by Haryana on the final day of the Ranji Trophy Group A tie on Sunday.
The opener, who was the only batsman apart from Haryana skipper Virender Sehwag to look in command at the Ferozeshah Kotla, missed his century, but helped the hosts register a hard-earned fourwicket victory on a tough wicket.
Delhi, with their second win in a row, moved to top of the group table with 14 points.
Chasing 224 was never going to be easy on a fourth day track. Though it didn’t deteriorate as much, it still had some bite.
Unmukt showed the difference in class as national selector Xuerui, 24, opened up a 5-2 lead but Sindhu came out fighting and equalised with three back-to-back points.
Till 8-8, it was a see-saw battle but the Hyderabadi showed why she has earned a big reputation. Sindhu, coached by Pullella Gopichand, raced to a 15-10 lead after earning eight consecutive points.
But the game saw a shift in momentum as Xuerui unleashed her delectable drop shots and crisp cross-court smashes to good effects. With this she equalised Vikram Rathour watched the proceedings.
Having scored 48 not out the previous evening to help Delhi wrest the initiative, he carried on the good work.
Watched by his personal coach Sanjay Bharadwaj from the sidelines, Unmukt made it appear a one-man show as skipper Gautam Gambhir first and Nitish Rana at 17-point mark and later pocketed the first game 21-19. In the second game, Li again moved to a 3-1 lead after Sindhu lost her second video referral. Errors seemed to creep in her game as her smashes were going wide and long, allowing Li to surge ahead 6-1 in a jiffy. A poorly executed net shot and failure to connect a return at the forecourt by Li helped Sindhu earn a couple of points but Li continued to ride on the errors committed later supported him by simply staying at the wicket.
Left-arm spinner Manan Sharma, who picked 11 wickets, was the only other choice for the Man-of-the-match award. However, the strike rate of almost 70 was too good to ignore.
Rathour was present ahead of the selection committee meeting in Delhi on Monday. “I wasn’t thinking about national selection. In fact, I wasn’t even aware that I was on 99 when I got out. My target was to only help the team win,” said Unmukt.
Meanwhile, all-rounder Rajat Bhatia, 37, discarded by Delhi this season, has been selected by Rajasthan after getting the necessary NOC.
Brief Scores: Haryana 195 & 265 lost to Delhi 237 & 225/6 (Chand 99; H Patel 4/76) by the Indian.
The Chinese played some sharp angled shots which Sindhu had no clue. In fact, Sindhu’s regular returns also started going wide as Li moved into the interval with a 11-4.
The drift in the hall also bothered Sindhu as she could not guage the length of the shots even as Li rode on some spectacular shots to move to 13-4. With her armoury of shots, Li left Sindhu wrong-footed and sometimes completely clueless to soon move to 15-7.
Sindhu threw herself at the court, stretching at the back and fore court but Li was simply outstanding as she led 19-12 with a cross court slice, out of the reach of the Indian.
Li reached the match point after Sindhu hit long once again and she won her first title of the injury-ridden season without much ado with another shot which the Indian let go.
Earlier, India’s Ajay Jayaram had reached his maiden Super Series Final at Korea Open and then defended his title at the Dutch Grand Prix.