Asian avengers: Sai, Sindhu win big
Both players defeat Asiad champions to enter semis; Praneeth seals India’s first men’s singles medal in 36 years
NEW DELHI: Pullela Gopichand is not known to show his emotions. The chief national coach usually keeps his composure and merely pumps his fists when his ward wins a tournament.
On Friday, though, as two of his protégés—PV Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth—created history at the World Championships, defeating reigning Asian Games champions to enter their respective semi-finals and assuring themselves of medals in Basel, there was an outpouring of emotions.
With Chinese-Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying’s final shot going wide, Sindhu fell to the floor in sheer delight. Gopi raised his hands, let out a loud “Yay” with one of the biggest grins ever seen on his sombre face.
Less than an hour later, the former All England champion was flashing a huge smile as he hugged a tearful Sai Praneeth after he beat Indonesian Jonatan Christie in the men’s singles quarter-final to become the first Indian in 36 years to assure himself a Worlds medal since Prakash Padukone’s bronze in Copenhagen, 1983.
This is also only the second time Indian shuttlers will return from the Worlds with two medals after Sindhu and Saina Nehwal won silver and bronze, respectively in Glasgow 2017. The Indians also ensured that they continue the trend of winning medals at every World Championships since 2011.
Odds were stacked in favour of Indonesian fourth seed Christie. As the reigning Asian Games champion, he had the credentials and Sai Praneeth had a point to prove. Some had even questioned Sai Praneeth’s nomination for the Arjuna Award.
Though Sai had beaten Christie in 2017, the Indonesian had convincingly overcome the Indian in their last two contests last year. But the 16th-seeded Indian brought out his ’A’ game to beat the temperamental world No 4 24-22, 21-14 in 51 minutes. It was one of the toughest contests the world No 19 Indian might have played in his career with both shuttlers exchanging serves at almost every point.
It eventually boiled down to who held his nerve better where Sai prevailed, saving a game point and converting his third to take the lead in the match.
In the second game, Christie looked out of sorts. The 27-yearold Indian took advantage and kept drilling in his smashes to which the Indonesian had no reply. Sai completely dominated the second game and won the encounter on his first match point, falling to the floor, letting his emotions get the better of him. Sai thus ensured that he is yet to lose a game at the St. Jakobshalle arena.
Sai now faces an extremely tough challenge in the semis, where he will take on defending champion and world No 1 Kento Momota. Though Sai has a 2-3 record against the Japanese, his wins had come in 2013.
SINDHU’S RECORD
Sindhu too displayed similar emotions following a dramatic quarter-final against the Chinese-Taipei’s second seed Tai Tzu Ying, the the most consistent women’s singles player in the last three years and one who has not dropped out of the top-2 since December 2016.
Also, world No 2 Tai Tzu had a commanding 10-4 record against Sindhu but that didn’t matter during the quarter-final as the fifth-seeded Indian came out on top 12-21, 23-21, 21-19 in a marathon match that lasted an hour and 11 minutes. Despite winning 61 points to Sindhu’s 56, Tai Tzu lost the contest.
With the win, the Rio Olympic Games silver medallist assured herself of a fifth medal in six outings at the Worlds to become the joint most successful women’s singles player at the global event with five medals, the same as Zhang Ning of China. Sindhu is now only behind Lin Dan (7) in the list of most medals at the Worlds and tied with Zhang and Peter Gade.
The contest itself was extremely challenging as there was hardly anything to choose from between the two shuttlers. Sindhu’s top game was nowhere to be seen in the first game as Tai Tzu used the ‘drop and smash’ tactic regularly to outwit the Indian. The Hyderabadi was missing the confidence she had while beating American Beiwen Zhang in the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday.
With her powerful backhand, the nimble-footed Tai Tzu was able to dominate her opponent and easily claimed the first game. It was only in the second game that Sindhu started showing flashes of brilliance. Sindhu also mixed her serve, back and forehand, to counter her deceptive opponent.
With coach Kim Ji Hyun animatedly shouting instructions from courtside, Sindhu started fighting back. Initially she played safe, keeping the bird in play, forcing Tai Tzu to commit errors. But Sindhu really brought out her aggressive self towards the end of the second game at 18-all when the world No 2 became defensive to try and win the second game and match.
Sindhu seized the initiative, shifted gears and put pressure on her opponent, which worked perfectly. Tai Tzu, playing safe, gave the game away, thus pushing the match into the decider.
The third game was equally intense with Tai Tzu making sure she kept the lead until Sindhu equalised at 14-all. Sindhu targeted Tai Tzu’s body with her smashes and from 15-17 down, she won the next four points to go ahead 19-17. Sindhu kept her nerve to win two of the next points and as Tai Tzu’s shot went wide, a thrilled Sindhu fell to the floor with Kim and Gopi leaping in joy.