While the seniors disappointed, the youngsters made sure the Indian flag kept flying in Arena Birmingham till the business end of the tournament.
The 2022 edition of the prestigious All England Open badminton Championships marked the 21st anniversary of India’s current chief national coach Pullela Gopichand lifting the trophy at the same venue back in 2001.
Since then the onus of bringing home the coveted trophy that is probably more revered by the Indian badminton fans fell on 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and later on 2019 world champion PV Sindhu. While the former at least made it to one final in 2015, the latter’s best showing so far has been two semi-final appearances in 2018 and 2021.
And given the indifferent form of India’s top badminton players, not many would have hoped that an Indian would come within striking distance of a title and two young women would be making history in their first appearance at Arena Birmingham.
Yes, former World No 1 Kidambi Srikanth had ended the year 2021 with a World Championships silver and the young Lakshya Sen bagged a bronze in his first-ever appearance in the competition. The 20-year-old Prakash Padukone Academy trainee Sen then upset the world champion, Loh Kean Yew, to win his first Super 500 crown in New Delhi in January but all these successes were being taken with a pinch of salt as most top players were missing in action due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sen did raise hopes when he trampled the lightning-quick Anthony Ginting of Indonesia at the German Open and then upset Tokyo Olympics champion Viktor Axelsen after staging an unexpected comeback in the decider when all seemed lost. He, however, went on to lose the final against Thailand’s Kunlavat Viditsarn and the naysayers were getting ready with their knives out.
The first Super 1000 event of the year is considered one of the most prestigious tournaments on the calendar and all top players look to be at their best to clinch the coveted trophy.
From the Indian point of view, Sindhu and Srikanth flattered to deceive and though Saina played her heart out in the two matches she got to play, the former World No 1 was never a genuine medal contender as she tries to prolong her career after a spate of injuries.
In men’s doubles, India Open champions Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy played their hearts out against world No 1 Kevin Sukamuljo and Marcus Gideon in the quarter-finals but ended up on the losing side for the 11th straight time against the Indonesians.
Apart from HS Prannoy, not much was expected from other Indian singles players. Hence, Sen was probably the only hope and that meant the pressure of expectations on him was immense.
He began by thumping Sourabh Verma, once his bogeyman in the domestic senior circuit, and then perfectly executed two diagonally opposite game plans from either side of the court to upset 2019 World Championship silver medallist Anders Antonsen.
The quarter-final against China’s Lu Guang Zu was considered to be the tricky encounter as Sen would have worn the favourite tag but the Indian received a walkover after his opponent withdrew citing back injury.
Sen then showed why he is being touted as the future star of world badminton. The Indian frustrated defending champion Lee Zii Jia with impeccable defence and beat the Malaysian at his own game to pocket the opening game.
Lee came back stronger in the second and rode on that momentum to open up a 14-10 lead in the decider. Unfazed by the scoreline, Sen, however, continued to focus on his game plan of keeping the shuttle in play till he got an opportunity to go for a winner.
He was prepared to play the long rallies, showed patience by not looking for quick points and then came up with sometimes tight and sometimes deceptive net dribbles when under pressure to overturn a 16-18 deficit to win in an hour and 16 minutes.
The Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy trainee showed that he was slowly but surely mastering the art of controlled aggression that the likes of Kento Momota and Lee had mastered over the years and hence make them formidable foes.
He played over a dozen rallies of more than 30-40 shots in the match and had the audacity to play an aggressive counter-dribble under pressure to win points. The effort probably took a toll on his body and he hadn’t 100% recovered ahead of the final against Axelsen but Sen could not be faulted for not giving his best on Sunday.
The 20-year-old tried every trick in the book against the rampaging Axelsen but it was a day when his opponent was playing at a completely different level and he had little chance to match the Dane with a tired body.
But the run to the final did provide a sense of euphoria among the Indian badminton fans and gave them the assurance that Sen, with three consecutive final appearances since the new year, is on track to become the next big star of Indian badminton.
Treesa-Gayatri: A whip of fresh air
Gayatri Gopichand Pullela and Treesa Jolly have given hope to the coaches and fans that all is not lost in the women’s paired events. AFP
While Sen’s performance was an assuring melody, the young women’s doubles combination of Gayatri Gopichand Pullela and Treesa Jolly provided a whip of fresh air to an event that generates little interest among Indian badminton fans since the retirement of Jwala Gutta.
Even when in form, the top-ranked pairing of Ashwini Ponnapa and N Sikki Reddy never really managed to punch above their weight in major international tournaments and Gayatri and Treesa were just lucky to get a shoo-in after being promoted from reserves.
The two youngsters, who are still teenagers, had come together only a year before during the pandemic as both decided to give up their singles careers to focus on paired events. They did reach the semi-finals of the Syed Modi International and won the Odisha Open Super 100 event in January but those events had hardly attracted any top women’s doubles pairs on the circuit and no one really expected anything from them in Birmingham.
But their fearless approach probably caught their opponents off-guard. In the first round, they saved two match points in the second game before beating Benyapa and Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand.
Given their singles prowess, both Treesa and Gayatri are capable of playing many more strokes like the sliced cross-court drops, half smashes and sharp net dribbles. Tressa also has a big smash and Gayatri can be formidable in the net exchanges and these qualities even troubled the likes of Olympic champions Apriyani Rahayu and Greysia Polii of Indonesia in the quarters, which they finally conceded after the former injured her knee.
Treesa was actually unhappy with the way they made it to the quarter-finals and was keen to prove a point against the World No 2 South Korean combination of Lee Sohee and Shin Seungchan.
The Indian pair lost the opening game rather tamely and were facing two match points when they decided to throw caution to the wind and launched into an all-out attack from the favourable side of the court to force a decider, which they won on the canter.
The frailties in their game were ultimately exploited by the Chinese combination of Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu in the semi-finals by targeting Gayatri’s defence. To their credit, both the Indians did try to wriggle out of the Chinese game plan and even won some impressive points but could pull out another Houdini Act in the end.
That reversal notwithstanding, Gayatri and Treesa did show what kind of potential they possess despite opting for doubles just a year ago during the pandemic and would give hope to the coaches and fans that all is not lost in the women’s paired events.
Even that is a considerable takeaway from one of the best showing by the Indian contingent at the All England in the recent past.
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram