Badminton Asia C’ships: Gutsy Prannoy prevails in epic, Sindhu fights back to win in three, Ashwini-Tanisha set for Paris 2024

Things didn’t go India’s way for the most part at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo on Wednesday. There was heartbreak in men’s doubles, largely predictable results elsewhere with a tinge of what-if, and a disappointment in women’s doubles. But the country’s top-ranked singles stars pulled off hard-fought wins to make the day palatable.

Both PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy were pushed the distance but came from a game down to advance. Sindhu defeated Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei 18-21, 21-14, 21-19 in 64 minutes. A while later, beyond midnight local time, Prannoy completed a marathon against China’s Lu Guang Zu, prevailing 17-21, 23-21, 23-21 in 90 minutes.

It was Prannoy’s first win against Lu in four attempts. And in a year when he has struggled for consistency due to fitness concerns, comes as a shot in the arm. It is not surprising anymore that Prannoy takes some time to get going in a match, and against Lu, he was again slow off the blocks. But he got into better rhythm at the start of Game 2. There was a gruelling rally at 12-14 that went Prannoy’s way and soon he was up 20-16. Lu stormed back to save the game points and have a match point for himself. But the Indian steadied himself to force a decider.
Game 3 was another rollercoaster as Prannoy trailed 5-11 at the change of ends. Then began another fightback, and the key, according to his coach Gurusai Dutt, was taking control at the net. “At the start of the third game, he spent too much energy hitting out and a couple of lifts he couldn’t control,” Guru told The Indian Express from China.

“He just lost momentum in the first half of the third game. But once he switched sides, he could actually get the net right, and was controlling it very well. The blocks and the lifts were going well. That’s where the game started to change. He was very selective about his smashing, which also really helped. He started to play largely at the net and the sides, focusing on the front four corners.”

Turning point

A superb run of 8 out of 9 points after the change of ends saw Prannoy regain control. From there, the shuttlers traded points. “It was brave that he played the net from 17 until the end of the match in the third game. Especially the dribbles at 19-all and 19-20 as well. That took some guts. It was not easy to trust his ability to do that. He really had to work hard for this win,” Guru explained.

Prannoy’s reward for the late-night win is a clash against Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun Yi.

Sindhu was far from her best against two-time former junior world champ Goh. The Malaysian, who had pushed Sindhu all the way in the 2022 Commonwealth Games quarterfinal and also beat the Indian the last time they met at the Sudirman Cup, painted the lines in a very impressive opening game. Sindhu, on the other hand, struggled to judge the shuttle. But from a game and 13-14 down, she went on a run of 8 straight points to force a decider. In Game 3 too, she’d turn it around from the same scoreline. Goh saved four match points to make it a nervy finish but Sindhu held on. She’ll face China’s Han Yue next.

In all, there were 14 matches featuring Indians. But the most significant results came from two contests that didn’t feature Indian shuttlers. Chinese Taipei’s women’s doubles pairs Hsu Ya Ching-Lin Wan Ching and Lee Chia Hsin-Teng Chun lost their respective matches. And so Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto – who received a first-round walkover – mathematically confirmed their qualification for the Paris Olympics. For Ashwini, it will be a return to the Summer Games after eight years, having missed out Tokyo. It will be her third appearance.

OTHER KEY RESULTS:

Lakshya Sen lost to Shi Yu Qi 19-21, 15-21

Srikanth Kidambi lost to Anthony Ginting 14-21 13-21

Dhruv-Arju lost to Liu-Ou 21-23, 21-19, 24-26

Gayatri-Treesa lost to Liu-Tan 2-21, 11-21

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