Meticulous Sindhu-centric tactical preparation, defensive solidity and some clean, gutsy stroke hitting saw 17-year-old Unnati Hooda land the first blow on PV Sindhu, the 21-16, 19-21, 21-13 win coming in front of a gleaning Changzhou crowd, watching the earth shift slightly in Indian badminton, at China Open.
The Haryana teenager, trained by her father and a bunch of sparring mates at Rohtak, has been considered a special talent since she was 14. There was always a stubbornness and abrasion to her game, where she feared no reputation, knew she had the strokes and power and pace to trouble big names, and never lacked self-belief. But it would need more than self-assured poise to get past Sindhu, even while she struggles to go deep into tournaments and is severely impeded in her speed, if not power.
It would need more than self-assured poise for Unnati to get past Sindhu, even while she struggles to go deep into tournaments and is severely impeded in her speed, if not power. (BWF/Badminton Photo)
Hooda had come prepared – she had been preparing for months, in fact, after being blasted by a big rattling Sindhu game at Syed Modi last Lucknow winter. They were ranked No 35 and No 15 respectively. She knew the big smash would always loom and she needed to absorb that pressure, but she had plans to deny Sindhu any elevation to belt down her hits and keep her busy, head dragged down in retrieval, on the front court.
This she did by severely testing Sindhu’s lunge. Her height gives her the expansive attack, and even the reach to get to the front court. But the low lunge has always tested Sindhu, and Hooda kept peppering the forehand spots with pinpoint drops – some from huge imbalanced positions.
Hooda set the tone early, and, never allowed Sindhu to snatch the lead in the opening set. A clean striker with the racquet, Hooda also has some pretty nifty footwork and anticipation. Her game pace might get tested, starting Akane Yamaguchi on Friday in the quarters, but against Sindhu, her gameplan was watertight.
She didn’t bother getting intimidated by Sindhu’s reach, knowing that even if she retrieved 20 shots, she could fox her on the 21st. So she eschewed errors on the lines, took the uncertainty of minimal court drift, precision mistakes out of the equation. With a good 45 day training block, Hooda’s fitness was optimum, and she came prepared for long rallies even as she claimed the opener 21-16, with a clean break from 13-13.
Undaunted, her personality always has been, and those around the Indian team talk of her self-assurance when she was unfazed by Sindhu’s reputation even when she made the Uber Cup squad at 14. There’s no needle as such, but Hooda did hurry her serves (or simple serve the soonest) and twice found Sindhu nor quite ready to receive. Having broken the age old rule of no coaches when two Indians play, the duo also got on with setting down a clear rivalry, where they would use every help available to beat the other – in this case, lines idea coaches.
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It’s always been tricky for Sindhu when she plays Indians – though her last loss came to Ruthvika Gadde years ago, though Saina Nehwal has beaten her in some important finals. Here was another fearless opponent, and it took two enormous cross court smashes for Sindhu to break the second set 19-19 deadlock. Except, the smash is always her last throw of the dice, and the headaches were mounting.
Sindhu trailed 11-14, levelled at 15-15 and went on to push a decider, but it was at 13-13 in the second that Hooda made her point. After the rushing serve, the immediate point thereafter was one of the longest, blistering paced rallies played by Indians on the circuit in many years, and Hooda drew the best out of Sindhu even, like Nozomi Okuhara used to. Hooda used a variety of drops and tosses, at a fast clip, to harry Sindhu, and leave her panting.
Upkaar Hooda, Unnati’s father, would say immediately after the match that they had skipped lunch preparing for the big match against Sindhu. (BWF/Badminton Photo)
More nuanced was the body attack. Sindhu’s body defense, owing to her frame has always been tentative, but Hooda didn’t quite smash into her torso, simply looped the shuttle at awkward lengths forcing Sindhu to thwack it out of the court in an untidy parry.
Most youngsters would be deflated at coming up to 19-all amd being denied the match in straight sets. Hooda though came to fight. In the decider, prepared for the decider crucially, she opened up the court cerebrally. Her ability to play set-up points leading up to a winnervor drawing out an error is rather impressive. She could lull Sindhu into thinking she had a chance, could push her to corners, trigger really awkward positions from which Sindhu struggled to recover for the next return. And then she brought out her own smash.
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It’s not a power bazooka, but it’s more than strictly workable. She puts a lot of shoulder on it, and two down the lines stunned Sindhu a little, as Hooda opened up a 15-10 lead. Continuously chasing, with Hooda calmly inscrutable in front of her, Sindhu couldn’t quite take control of any rallies, besides going for the smashes. Hooda’s own scramble defense is not too shabby – not on her body, not on the lines. And she simply threw herself at the shuttle, and even if she didn’t retrieve half a dozen smashes, she bought herself time and breath with elaborate mopping of the court.
It was pretty evident when Sindhu went for the lines and sent one wide, trying to keep the shuttle away from Hooda that she wasn’t entirely comfortable. Two errors from over hitting brought Hooda to the threshold. And the win was sealed with an expansive cross court smash – that would make PV Sindhu very proud of her.
Upkaar Hooda, Unnati’s father, would say immediately after the match that they had skipped lunch preparing for the big match. The hunger to succeed, those in her team say, is quite insatiable. Beating PV Sindhu will be seen as only a start of a career – an appetizer.
