Lakshya Sen faced an early exit at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo on Wednesday, crashing out to a 21-12, 21-19 defeat. Sen briefly resisted from 8-14 down to 16-16 in the second set, but was largely lackluster.
Sen, the All England finalist, had been keen to do well at the Asians, but he looked rusty and error-prone, not finding his length whatsoever.
PV Sindhu, back on the court after missing the All England, showed the fight that keeps her in contention at the top level. Besides Satwik-Chirag who actually won the title in 2023, Sindhu came closest to making the Asian final, but had lost to Akane Yamaguchi at the penultimate step.
On Wednesday, she played the Malaysian Wong Ling Ching, ranked 38, and lost the first set 15-21. The comeback needed the Indian to perceptibly raise her foot speed and hitting pace to down a pugnacious opponent. The second set achieved parity fast enough, but in the decider, Wong simply hurried the rallies herself drawing out frustrated smash errors from Sindhu.
The Indian was clearly the better player, and led 17-13 but allowed her opponent to claw back into contention at 18-18. Wong dared to take the next point, and that infuriated Sindhu enough to bring in her power – rage at the crunch and muscle her way past the 22 year old.
Sindhu next plays All England champ Wang Zhi Yi, a player she defeated at the last World Championships in Round 2 next. While Sindhu spent 67 minutes, Zhi Yi was done with dismissing Chiu Pin-Chian 21-16, 21-12 in 46 minutes. The World No 2 has been on a high since her Birmingham triumph at All England, but that is just the kind of tension Sindhu can put her under, playing in front of the home crowd. While Ayush quietened them on Wednesday, Sindhu can get going against Zhi Yi and wait for a similar soothing silence of the Ningbo crowd.
In another women’s singles match, a slew of errors – 7 to be precise – to the backline, where Tanvi Sharma just couldn’t keep the lifts or clears in bounds, ended her first outing at the Asian Championships.
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Even coach Irwansyah was zapped at the complete listlessness as the Indian flatlined after leading 14-12 in the second against Malaysian Letshanaa Karupathevan, as Tanvi went on to lose the next 9 points in a row. Only a little while earlier, Irwansyah had watched Sindhu fight back, but the youngster seemed restricted in her movement as her high-quality shot making wasn’t backed by lithe movements on the feet.
The Malaysian went on to win 21-19, 21-14, as Tanvi’s tired shots in the end were nothing close to the sharpness required to close out sets, the way Sindhu did. Malvika Bansod too had found the going tough against Busanan Ongbamrungphan.
While Lakshya was joined on the fallen wayside by Kidambi Srikanth who lost 21-18, 9-21, 11-21 to Loh Kean Yew, India’s grand old shuttler, HS Prannoy prevailed. He scored a 24-22, 21-12 win over Vietnamese Nguyen Hai Dang. It was a typical slow start from Prannoy at 7-12 in the first, before he made the move at 18-20 with three straight points, and then sailed through the second. He plays Weng Hong Yang in a Malaysian Masters rematch.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
