Nozomi Okuhara had posted on Instagram last week, “Accumulate the moment ‘now’ in front of you rather than chasing results’ after she won the Allianz Malaysia Super 100. “We won” she declared. And she did it again a week later.
Hopping over to Indonesia Masters II at Medan, the former World Champion, shredded the challenge of Indian youngster, Devika Sihag, winning the Super 100 final 21-11, 21-9 in 35 minutes.
It was the age-old Okuhara magic that had downed PV Sindhu eight years ago at Glasgow world’s, and once again her eclectic shot making, with drops galore, and pinpoint placement ran Devika ragged, as the Indian eighth seed starting out in seniors, finished runners up in a Super 100.
Devika is an extremely talented youngster from the Padukone stable, notable for her tall frame, just like Sindhu’s. Okuhara, 30, who has fallen off the elite radar to rank No 33 and couldn’t qualify for the Olympics, continues to painstakingly accumulate ranking points at smaller events. She had dispatched top seed Manami Suizu, 22, in three sets 12-21, 21-12, 21-14 in semis. She beat other Japanese HinaAkechi (20), Sorano Oshikawa (21) earlier in the week.
Devika, World no 69, had beaten higher ranked players America Ishika Jaiswal, ranked 62 in quarters. In the semis, she got the better of No 86 Mutiara Ayu Puspitasari 21-9, 19-21, 21-12, while she played out a 65 min marathon against Korean Lee So Yul, rallying from a set deficit to win 17-21, 26-24, 21-18, converting an astonishing 7th set point in the second. However, against Okuhara, she had few answers.
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