Heartbreak at end of marathon for PV Sindhu
There are things PV Sindhu will learn over the coming years that can be bracketed as experience. One such is relaxing her nerves when she’s in pursuit, as against when she’s blazing trails.
Two World Championship bronze medals came her way after a fearless streak at the prestigious meet. On Friday, a day after she had continued in the same vein and audaciously taken out Olympic champion Xuerui Li from the Worlds, the pressure of chasing that target of a hat-trick of medals, mirrored Sindhu’s struggle in hunting down the crucial lead that Korean Sung Ji Hyun took to enter the semifinals, and pocket a sure medal. She lost 17-21, 21-19, 16-21 in a heartbreaking exit at Jakarta.
Normally, a place in the Last 8 after scalping the most dangerous Chinese at the Worlds, would count as a good showing for any other 20-year-old ranked World No 11. But PV Sindhu has set herself a high benchmark the last two editions, and her giant-killing feats had culminated in a place on the podium. So, going down to the Korean, ranked higher than her currently, would count as a disappointment, and would’ve added more pressure in the finishing stages of the match that went on for 1:22 hrs.
It was a tiring battle, where both players looked exhausted from the midpoint of the match, sipped desperately on their water bottles and played tired shots that counted as errors. Sindhu had done well to shrug off her first set deficit, in which she’d taken her time to get going and finally falling back by a distance. But she would be back to her combative best in the second, determined to not let go of this opportunity.
Her aggression was pristine, and when she smashed the Korean had very little to offer in resistance. But against an able runner who was prepared to take as long as it took, retrieving everything without a spectacular weapon save subtle deception, Sindhu found her opponent snapping at her heels even in the second which she won 21-19. Errors came from serve, lifts and in defense even as the match got attritional.
Sindhu had played three-setters in her earlier two matches and the accumulated tiredness might’ve had something to do with her faltering attack, but conditions were energy sapping, and the Korean was ready to hang in there. It comes with experience, from playing tournament finals, from lasting till Saturday-Sundays on the circuit week in, week out, the ability to handle a crunch, like the one she was staring at as she entered the decider. Still, the Indian was fighting off tired limbs, even though the Korean led from start to end (she led 7-3, 13-7 and 17-12).
“She was under pressure all through after the lead (for Sung Ji) in the third. She needed to play more relaxed and have variety in strokes at that point,” Gopichand said.
In a wicked strategy that the highest ranked Korean who’s grown up in a badminton family (both parents shuttlers) employed, when Sindhu closed the gap to 18-16 with sheer gutsy strokeplay while battling tiredness, was playing high tosses. Even for a lanky girl like Sindhu, touching six feet, repeatedly catching the towering shuttle was too much on the day, and it didn’t help that she couldn’t summon variety of her own to counter this offense. Her dreams of a third Worlds podium ended, though it was an addition to her trove of how to deal with draining three-setters against the top players.
Jwala-Ashwini out-gunned
India’s doubles pairing of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa too couldn’t carry forward their stunning form from the pre-quarters into their second-medal chase at the Worlds. Against yet another Japanese pairing of Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao, the duo ran out of steam, losing 23-25, 14-21. While Jwala Gutta got going in the opening set, and Ashwini was assured from the back, the 13th seeded Indians found it tough to penetrate the sturdier defences of this younger pairing, that is upcoming and less jaded than the ones they beat yesterday.
The first set loss hit the Indians hard for they had stayed in the hunt and denied the Japanese an easy opening game. But the pressure of a set deficit was too much to overcome against the dogged defensive wall that obstructed them, and Ashwini Ponappa botched a fair share of smashes towards the end to exit the Worlds.
