Jaiswal upsets defending champion Verma in second round

The 77^th Senior National badminton championship came to life on the first full day of competition when the unheralded Sreyansh Jaiswal of Chattisgarh upset top seed and defending champion Sourabh Verma in the men’s singles second round here on Sunday.

The 52 min encounter between a player who has now over two years of experience on the international circuit and the other who is still finding his feet in the domestic events was more a battle of nerves rather than attrition.

For the first 15 minutes, it looked like Verma will have a cakewalk against a junior player who himself “believed” that he had no chance of winning against such a senior opponent. That meant that Jaiswal used to match the top seed in the rallies only to miss out on opportunities to finish the point.

However, the 17-year-old trainee of former national coach S M Arif decided to enjoy himself on the court after the first game and that slowly but surely the pressure shifted from him to the experienced campaigner.

There were hardly any rallies or strokes that stood out but the one could feel the nerves in Verma’s approach at the net, which has always been the strong point of the boy from Dhar. His net dribbles lost the sharpness and his lifts could only reach mid court for the lanky Jaiswal to finish with ease.

Later speaking about the match, Verma admitted that he allowed the pressure to build on himself and made silly mistakes.

Even Jaiswal struggled with his nerves at the business end of the match and though one would give him the credit for raising his game to score five consecutive points to lead 18-13 in the decider. It would now be interesting to see how the youngster would handle the pressure of being the favourite when he takes on Nikhilesh Sharma of Assam.

PSPB continue their domination in Inter-State meet

Petroleum Sports Promotion Board continued their domination in the Inter-State Badminton championship with clinical wins to lift the Rahimatoola Cup for Men and Chadha Cup for women for the 14^th consecutive year.

The men’s team defeated Air India 3-1, while the women got the better of Airport Authority of India 2-1 in the final at the Sher-I-Kashmir Indoor Stadium in Srinagar on Saturday.

Results:

Men: PSPB bt Air India 3-1 (P Kashyap bt Pratul Joshi 12-21, 21-15, 21-12; Ajay Jayaram lost to Anand Pawar 17-21, 17-21; K Tarun/Arun Vishnu bt Akshay Dewalkar/Anand Pawar 22-20, 21-15; B Sai Praneeth bt G Gopiraju 21-14, 21-15

Women: PSPB bt AAI 2-1 (PC Thulasi bt Neha Pandit 21-15, 21-7; Ashwini Ponnappa/Prajakta Sawant lost to Pradnya Gadre/N Sikki Reddy 14-21, 17-21; Arundhati Pantawane bt Mohita Sahdev 21-16, 21-11)

Why can't BAI study all paradigms before making rules?

Trust the Badminton Association of India to create confusion when none was needed and then call it an attempt at improvement.

The latest drama is currently unfolding at the Inter-State National championship in Srinagar where the new rules for the team championship are being implemented.

According to these rules, a team can field only those players through out the tournament who were named in the first tie and any replacement would be permitted only if one of the player is injured and ruled out for the tournament.

This means that if only three of the five members in the women's team or seven of the 10 in mens are fielded in the opening tie then the remaining would merely be spectators through out the tournament.

It effectively takes away the coach's prerogative to pick his playing members and any tactical adjustment he/she want to do with the squad and is being criticised by all teams.

But the bigger joke is not the rule but the foolishness of the administrators who aimed to streamline the team championship rules and regulations in accordance to the international standards but ended up making a fool of themselves due to petty politics.

The Competition Officials Committee (COC), which is responsible for formulating competition rules and regulations, had been advocating the need to implement the Thomas/Uber Cup regulations for the Inter-State meet.

According to those regulations, once a team gives the list of their players for a particular tie the top ranked singles players according to international rankings of each team will face each other in the first match, second faces second and there on.

This method was devised to ensure that all the matches had a decent standard and no team were sacrificing any rubber.

However, many states were opposed to the format as they felt that it restricted their ability to "out-think" the opposition since the surprise element would go away.

Faced with a deadlock, the BAI officials needed to stamp their authority and hence made a chance that was not just unneccesary but also against the direction that they wanted to go in the first place.

The office bearers will once again hide behind the argument that they were trying to do something new and will correct the mistakes next time.

While it is understandable that implementation of any new rule can be a trial and error process, here BAI had just to follow the example of the World body rather than re-invent the wheel.

But consistency has rarely been BAI's strongest point. The apex body first decided that the defending national champions would have to go through the qualifying process from this year - instead of the direct entry system. But just a few days before the zonals, restored the direct entry without giving any reasons.

There have been many such cases in the last few years where there has been little reasoning behind why BAI took a particular decision or repealed it without any justification.

Thankfully, those running the sport has very little role to play in the performance of the players and India can still boast of some really world class performances in the last few years.

There is very little hope from the system.

China Masters: Sindhu loses semis but wins hearts

Just over a year ago, London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal had spoken about how the pressure of single-handedly shouldering the pressure of the country’s expectations sometimes gets to her.

The world number four need not worry anymore. Her academy mate and reigning women’s national champion P V Sindhu proved this week that she is ready to not only reduce the burden of expectations on the Commonwealth Games gold medallist but has to quality to carve a place for herself in the echelons of Indian badminton.

The 17-year-old Sindhu made the most of the absence of Saina at the China Masters Super Series badminton tournament in Changzhou to move the spot light on her – beating reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the quarterfinals and coming within sniffing distance of upsetting fourth seed Jiang Yanjiao 21-10, 14-21, 21-19 in the semifinals.

This was the second meeting between Sindhu and Yanjiao and it was only the inexperience of the 17-year-old that ultimately cost her the 66 minute encounter. However, in those 66 minutes, Sindhu showed what she was capable of.

The semifinal encounter was a battle of attrition between two players who boast of an array of deceptive strokes, especially the short arm drops and flicks that can leave the opponent flummoxed.

Sindhu began rather tamely and before she could get into her strides, Jiang had already pocketed the first game and the crowd had already started celebrating. But the first point of the second game even made the Chinese coaching staff sit up and take notice as the Indian made her more experienced opponent run around the court and brought Jiang on her knees.

That point began the series of long rallies in which both players looked to out-think each other and it was the superiority at the net that mostly determined which way the rally went.

Sindhu was exceptional good in playing the top-spin net dribbles and create the openings for the kill in the second game. It was just the experience of Jiang that kept her in the match despite the tired legs and that meant that the decider was reduced to a battle of will and temperament with both players looking to summon whatever strength was left in their body to outmanoeuvre each other.

It looked like Sindhu would take the cake, when she opened up a 18-17 lead and just needed a tap at the net to go two points ahead. However, the inexperience of the Asian Junior champion showed at the crucial juncture as she hurried into the stroke and made an unforced error. Two more errors followed and ended her dream run in the tournament.

But then, China Masters is just a start for the affable Sindhu and a title triumph should be round the corner.

In the men’s singles semifinal, Ajay Jayaram failed to work his magic against Hu Yun of Chinese Taipei and went down 21-16, 21-18

Result (semifinal):

Women’s singles: P V sindhu lost to 4-Jiang Yanjiao 21-10, 14-21, 21-19 
Men's singles: Ajay Jayaram lost to Hu Yun 21-16, 21-18

China Masters: Sindhu upsets Olympic champion, Ajay also in semis

National champion P V Sindhu proved the world that there is more to Indian women’s badminton than Saina Nehwal when she stunned Olympic champion and second seed Li Xuerui on her home turf to reach the semifinal of the China Masters Super Series badminton tournament in Changzhou on Friday.

The world number 24 proved that she has a good tactical acumen in the 45 minute encounter by ensuring that she did not exert herself once she fell back in the second game and went on to win 21-19, 9-21, 21-16.

Sindhu matched Xuerui in long rallies and forced her to surrender with a combination of cross court smashes and half smashes to set up a last four clash against Jiang Yanjiao, who got the better of Busanan Ongbumrungpan of Thailand 21-15, 16-21, 21-15.

India will also have representation in the men’s semifinal, when Ajay Jayaram got the better of national champion Sourabh Verma 12-21, 21-14, 21-16 in the quarterfinals.

Results

Men’s singles:

RMV Guru Sai Dutt lost to 1-Chen Long (CHN) 21-8, 21-12

Ajay Jayaram bt Sourabh Verma 12-21, 21-14, 21-16

Women’s singles:

PV Sindhu bt 2-Li Xuerui (CHN) 21-19, 9-21, 21-16

China Masters: Good outing for Indian shuttlers in second round

Indian shuttlers had a good outing in the second round of the China Masters Super Series badminton tournament in Changzhou with four of them booking their quarterfinals berth.

Women’s national champion P V Sindhu lead the charge with an upset victory over eighth seed Porntip Buranprasertsuk of Thailand 10-21, 21-7, 21-19 in 47 minutes to set up a clash against second seed and Olympic Games gold medallist Li Xuerui of China.

In the men’s section, former junior national champion RMV Guru Sai Dutt got the better of his Gopichand Academy teammate P Kashyap 16-21, 21-18, 21-4 and will now face top seed Chen Long of China.

Also advancing to the next round were Ajay Jayaram and men’s national champion Sourabh Verma. Ajay defeated Singapore’s Zi Liang Derek Wong 21-17. 21-9, while Verma got the better of Jen Hao Hsu of Chinese Taipei 21-12, 21-16 to set up an all Indian quarterfinal.

Results:
Men’s singles:

Ajay Jayaram bt Zi Liang Derek Wong (SIN) 21-17, 21-9

Sourabh Verma bt Jen Hao Hsu (TPE) 21-12, 21-16

RMV Guru Sai Dutt bt 8-P Kashyap 16-21, 21-18, 21-4

Women’s singles

P V Sindhu bt 8-Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA) 10-21, 21-7, 21-19

Mixed Doubles

8-Ashwini Ponnappa/K Tarun lost to Jian Guo Ong/Yin Loo Lim (MAS) 21-9, 21-14

Ajay Jayaram upsets third seed Tago in China Masters

Mumbai boy Ajay Jayaram put behind the disappointment of missing out on the London Olympic berth by hammering third seed Kenichi Tago of Japan 21-13, 21-17 in the first major tournament after the Olympics.

The Indian Oil Employee had beaten his Japanese opponent in the world championship last year in their first ever meeting and even on Wednesday was hardly under any pressure as he disposed off the challenge of the experienced campaigner in about 40 minutes in the opening round of the China Masters Super Series tournament in Changzhou. He will now face Zi Liang Derek Wong of Singapore in the second round.

Also advancing to the next round were London Olympics quarterfinalist P Kashyap, who got the better of local boy Huan Gao 21-13, 14-21, 21-19 in an hour and 18 minutes, along with RMV Guru Sai Dutt and Sourabh Verma.

Results

Men’s singles

8-P Kashyap bt Huan Gao (CHN) 21-13, 14-21, 21-19

Ajay Jayaram bt 3-Kenichi Tago (JPN) 21-13, 21-17

Anand Pawar lost to 2-Chen Jin (CHN) 21-17, 21-12

RMV Guru Sai Dutt bt Muhammad Hafiz Hashim (MAS) 21-18, 19-21, 21-13

Sourabh Verma bt Daren Liew (MAS) 19-21, 21-17, 21-12

Men’s Doubles

Pranav Chopra/Akshay Dewalkar lost to Patiphat Chalardchaleam/Nipitphon Puangpuapech (THA) 21-11, 17-21, 21-18

K Tarun/Arun Vishnu lost to Rasmus Bonde/Mads Conrad-Petersen (DEN) 18-21, 21-12, 21-19

Women’s singles

PV Sindhu bt Jamie Subandhi (USA) 21-15, 21-12

Dani bags his maiden international title

There was no doubting the talent of Harsheel Dani. The only question was whether this eccentric youngster had enough hunger to trade flamboyance with consistency to win tournaments.

The 16-year-old showed enough of that this week end to beat many higher ranked and experienced shuttlers to lift the Sushant Chipalkatti Memorial India Junior (u-19) international badminton tournament at the WIE Complex in Pune on Sunday.

The Uday Pawar Academy trainee got the better of top seed C Rohit Yadav 15-21, 22-20, 21-15 in the final and completed the annihilation of all the top three seeds on the way to the summit.

Harsheel took time to adjust to Rohit’s style of play in the first game since he was playing the Gopichand Academy trainee for the first time. However, once he settled down he began dominating the net exchanges. The second game was a close encounter with the left-hander coming up with some timely winners to take the match into the decider.

“I played very well on the net today and was able to finish every time I got a opening. That made the difference,” said the shuttler, who plays for Air India in the domestic circuit.

Harsheel went into the tournament high on confidence having won his first u-19 national ranking tournament last month and that showed in the way he dismantled Bangladesh’s Mohammad Arif Hossain in the opening round.

He then accounted for second seed Wei Jian Ali of Malaysia and third seed Pratul Joshi of India in straight games in the quarterfinals and semifinals to set up a summit clash with Rohit.

Double crown for Ruthvika

In the girls’s singles final, second seed G Ruthvika Shivani got the better of top seed Rituparna Das 21-19, 21-14 and then came back to team up with Poorvisha S Ram to lift the girl’s doubles title by beating J Meghana and K Maneesha 21-12, 18-21, 21-19.

Results:

Boy’s Singles: Harsheel Dani (IND) bt 1-C Rohit Yadav (IND) 15-21, 22-20, 21-15

Boy’s doubles: 1-Arsia Putra/Hantoro (INA) bt 2-Yantony Saputra/Tedi Supriadi (INA) 21-17, 21-13

Girl’s singles: 2-G Ruthvika Shivani (IND) bt 1-Rituparna Das (IND) 21-19, 21-14

Girl’s doubles: 1- G Ruthvika Shivani/Poorvisha S Ram (IND) bt 2-J Meghana/K Maneesha (IND) 21-12, 18-21, 21-19

Mixed doubles: 1-T Hema Nagendra Babu/J Meghana (IND) bt Santosh Ravuri/K Maneesha 21-18, 23-21