Kashyap should now target the quarters

The surprise loss of Japanese Kenichi Tago has raised India’s P Kashyap’s chances of reaching the quarterfinals if he manages to cross the group stage hurdle on Tuesday.

The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist is against Vietnam’s Tien Minh Nguyen in the Group D encounter on Tuesday and whoever wins the encounter would advance to the knock out stage as group winner.

Kashyap has a head to head record of 2-3 against Nguyen and hasn’t beaten the Vietnamese in the last three meetings. However, the Indian is in good form since qualifying for the Olympics and has already beaten world number three Chen Long of China in the Indonesia Super Series premier last month.

The group winner would face the group C winner Niluka Karunaratne of Sri Lanka, who got the better of Tago 21-18, 21-16 in the two-man group to advance to the pre-quarterfinals.

London Olympics: Saina handed a good draw, tough for doubles pairs

World number five Saina Nehwal’s chances of bagging India’s maiden Olympic medal in badminton received a major boost on Monday when the 22-year-old was handed a good draw till the quarterfinals.

The Commonwealth Games gold medallist was clubbed with world number 55 Lianne Tan of Belgium and world number 65 Sabrina Jaquet of Switzerland in Group E. Saina hasn’t played both the girls before.

Only the group leader would qualify for the knock out stage.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Saina is expected to face 14^th seed Yao Jie of Netherlands. The veteran Jie trails the Indian ace 2-3 in head-to-head records and hasn’t managed to beat Saina since 2009.

The Indonesia Super Series Premier champion’s first real test could come at the quarterfinal stage where she faces fifth seed and two-time All England champion Tine Baun of Denmark.

Baun, however, hasn’t been in best of form this year and has lost to Saina in their last two meetings.

If Saina manages to clear the last eight hurdle, she could come across her first Chinese opponent – top seed and world champion Yihan Wang.

The Indian ace came close to beating her 2006 junior world championship nemesis in last year’s Indonesia Super Series and should be confident of registering her maiden victory over the Chinese girl if they face off in the semifinals.

Decent draw for Kashyap

While Saina was handed a good draw, men’s singles star P Kashyap should at least aim to reach the knock out stage in his maiden Olympic appearance.

The world number 23 has been clubbed with Vietnam’s Tien Minh Nguyen and Yuhan Tan of Belgium. Kashyap has already beaten the number 10 seed Nguyen twice before and given his style of play could once again spring a surprise.

Tough for doubles stars

However, the doubles stars had no such luck in the draw and would have to play exceptionally well to move beyond the group stages.

All the groups in the doubles events are of four teams each and the top two teams from each group would qualify for the quarterfinals.

World championship bronze medallist Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa have been paired with world number five Mizuki Fujii/Reika Kakiiwa of Japan, world number 10 Chen Wen Hsing/Chien Yu Chin of Chinese Taipei and world number 13 Shinta Mulia Sari/Yao Lei of Indonesia in Group B.

While the Indian combination has a 1-2 head-to-head record with the first two pairs, they are 0-3 down against the Indonesians.

In the mixed doubles, Jwala and V Diju are in a group of death with all their three opponents having the experience of either winning a world championship or a Olympic gold in the past.

The world number 13 combination has been placed in Group C along with 2009 world champions Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark, third seed Liliyana Natsir and Tontowi Ahmad of Indonesia and world number nine Lee Yong Dae and Ha Jung Eun of Korea.

The Indian pair has beaten only the Koreans in the past and have always found it difficult to overcome the Chinese and Danish combinations.

Asian U-19 championship: Sindhu creates history

P V Sindhu created history on Saturday when he became the first Indian shuttler to win the Badminton Asia Youth U-19 championship in Gimcheon, Korea.

The world number 25, who had lost in the semifinal of the last edition of the competition, got the better of second seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 18-21, 21-17, 22-20 in the girl’s singles final to achieve a feat that compatriot Sameer Verma failed to conquer in Lucknow last year.

The Gopichand Academy trainee went into the summit clash high on confidence having won all her previous round matches without dropping a game.

However, the final was far from smooth sailing for the junior and senior national champion. She struggled to get off the blocks in the first game and had to fight back in the second and third.

In the decider, Sindhu trailed 19-16 before claiming four straight points to earn her first match point. She wasted that opportunity but claimed the second to lift the title.
"I cannot describe how happy I am. It is yet to sink in," she told this correspondent from Korea.
Sindhu said the real confidence booster for her was when she managed to beat her last year nemesis Yu Sun in the quarterfinals.
"When I was trailing 19-16 in the decider, I was a bit tensed. But all ended well and I am happy about it," she added.

Road to title

First Round: beat Ryu Young Seo (Korea) 21-11, 21-13

Second Round: beat Rina Andriani (Indonesia) 21-10, 21-19

Quarterfinal: beat 6-Yu Sun (China) 22-20, 21-19

Semifinal: beat 3-Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Thailand) 21-19, 21-16

Final: beat 2-Nozomi Okuhara (Japan) 18-21, 21-17, 22-20

Asia U-19 championship: Sindhu in final

National champion P V Sindhu stayed on course to become the first Indian shuttler to lift the Badminton Asia Youth U-19 championship title when she defeated third seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand 21-19, 21-16 in the semifinals in Gimcheon, Korea, on Friday.

The Gopichand Academy trainee hasn’t lost a game in this tournament so far and in the final would face Japanese second seed Nozomi Okuhara, who got the better of her compatriot Akane Yamaguchi 21-19, 21-9 in the other semifinal.

This is the first time any Indian girl’s singles player has managed to reached the summit clash of the Asian championship. Sindhu came close to that feat last year but went down against Chinese Yu Sun at the last four stage.

However, the top seed took a revenge of sorts over the Chinese when she got the better of Sun in the quarterfinals here.

While Sindhu is chasing history, compatriot Sameer Verma would not get a chance to improve on his runners up finish last year after he went down 13-21, 21-18, 21-9 against third seed Kento Momota of Japan in the semifinals.