Indian Open Superseries: Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu win, men's challenge ends

March 31, 2016

New Delhi, Mar 31: Defending champion Saina Nehwal entered the pre-quarterfinals but it turned out to be a disastrous day for the men with all of them, including reigning champion K Srikanth, failing to cross the opening hurdle at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super Series badminton here on Wednesday.

saina

World No. 10 Srikanth, who had defeated Tian Houwei during the Badminton Asia Team Championships in February, played out of his skin before losing 13-21 21-17 22-24 to the All England finalist from China in a hard-fought match that lasted one hour and 23 minutes.

Srikanth, who has not crossed the second round of any Super Series event ever since his India Open win last year, will lose a lot of ranking points and it might put his Olympic qualification in danger as he will slip down the ladder when the BWF ranking list is released on April 7.

Indian challenge ended in men's singles after H S Prannoy and Sourabh Verma also suffered defeats in the opening round at the Siri Fort stadium.

World No. 6 Saina, P V Sindhu and unheralded Rituparna Das, however, advanced to the second round of the USD 300,000 event.

Olympic bronze medallist Saina thrashed compatriot Tanvi Lad 21-7 21-13 in a lop-sided 34-minute match, while Rituparna defeated compatriot Anura Prabhudesai 21-18 21-15 in another women's singles match. P V Sindhu too reached the pre-quarterfinals after making mincemeat of Italy's Jeanine Cicognini 21-8 21-8 in just 18 minutes.

Saina will next face Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol, Rituparna will meet former All England champion and fourth seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, while two-time World Championship bronze medallist Sindhu will be up against Thailand's Busanan Ongbumrungphan.

Even before the fans could recover from the defeat of Srikanth, Prannoy, who had won the Swiss Open last week, went down fighting 21-23 21-18 13-21 to Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand and Sourabh, who is trying to make a comeback from a series of injuries, was hit by a tornado called Lin Dan of China. The 23-year-old from Dhar lost 18-21 9-21 to the two-time Olympic champion.

Earlier, B Sai Praneeth, who had stunned two-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei in the opening round of All England Championship, lost 20-22 13-21 to Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia, while Ajay Jayaram blew away a 11-7 and a 19-17 lead in the decider to go down 12-21 21-13 19-21 to German Marc Zwiebler in the opening round.

Women's singles player Ruthvika Shivani Gadde also suffered a 10-21 14-21 loss to sixth seeded Chinese Wang Shixian, who had reached the finals of the All England earlier this month.

Among the seeded singles players, top seed Malaysian Lee Chong Wei, second seed Japanese Kento Momota, third seed Dane Jan O Jorgensen, fourth seed Chinese Lin Dan, fifth seed Denmark's Viktor Axelsen reached the second round in men's singles.

In women's singles, China's Li Xuerui, seeded third, sixth seed Chinese Wang Shixian, Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon, seeded fourth, also won their respective matches.

In men's doubles category, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar, who reached the finals of the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold, beat Arjun Kumar Reddy Malgari and Santosh Ravuri 21-17 21-16 to set up a fight with Korean second seeds Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang.

The other Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who won the Mexico Open last year, beat compatriots Vineeth Manuel and S Sanjeeth 21-13 21-13 in another lop-sided match. They will meet Chinese Taipei's Chen Hung Ling and Chi-Lin Wang.

Jishnu Sanyal and Shivam Sharma also reached the second round after brushing aside Egypt's Ali Ahmed El Khateeb and Abdelrahman Kashkal 21-6 21-11. They will square off against Chinese Teipei's Lee Sheng Mu and Tsai Chia Hsin.

In women's doubles, Mohita Sahdev and Sanjana Santosh defeated fellow Indians Smriti Nagarkoti and Parssa Naqvi 21-19 21-7. They will clash with compatriots Ch. Poornima and Rachita Sahdev.

Gauri Asaji and Karishma Wadkar will take on top seeds Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Greysia Polii after the unknown Indian pair beat compatriots Nimmi Patel and Saruni Sharma.

2011 World Championship bronze medalists Jwala and Ashwini, however, lost 21-17 14-21 17-21 to Korea's Go Ah Ra and Yoo Hae Won to end their campaign.

Three Indian pairs reached the second round in mixed doubles too.

Manu and Ponnappa thrashed compatriots Kapil Chaudhary and Smriti Nagarkoti 21-7 21-3 to set up a clash with China's Zhang Wen and Jia Yifan next, while Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan beat Kashish Sharma and Jagriti Nashier 21-11 21-17 and they will take on China's Liu Yuchen and Tang Jinhua.

Pranaav and Sikki Reddy also notched up a thrilling 21-17 17-21 21-14 win over Korean combo of Solgyu Choi and Eom Hye Won to set up a meeting with Chinese Wang Yilyu and Chen Qingchen.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 21,2020

Sydney, Feb 21: Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav bowled a magical spell in her comeback game to steer India to a comfortable 17-run win over defending champions Australia in the opening match of the Women's T20 World Cup on Friday.

Put in to bat, India struggled to a below par 132 before Poonam (4/19 in 4 overs) foxed the Aussies with her googlies, turning the match decisively into her team's favour.

Australia, who have won the competition four times in six editions, were all out for 115 in 19.5 overs

"A bowler like Poonam is someone who leads from the front. We were expecting a great comeback from her. Our team is looking nice, earlier we depended on two-three players," India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said after the match.

Poonam, who missed the preceding tri-series due to a hand injury, also got good support from other bowlers including pacer Shikha Pandey.

The 28-year-old from Agra was on a hat-trick but narrowly missed out as wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia dropped a difficult chance.

The tournament-opener saw a record 13,000 plus attendance with a sizeable chunk supporting India.

India next play against Bangladesh in Perth on February 24.

"It was great for me to come back from injury and perform like this. It was the third time that I was on a hat-trick but satisfied that I was able to do the job for the team," said Poonam at the post-match presentation.

Australia were off to a good start to their chase with opener Alyssa Healy making a 35-ball 51, laced with six boundaries and a six.

However, Indian spinners led by Poonam triggered a collapse as Australia suddenly slipped to 82 for six.

Poonam (4/19) snapped four wickets, two in successive deliveries in the 12th over, to break the back of Australia's chase.

Ashleigh Gardner (34 off 36) tried her bit but didn't get any support from the other end.

Earlier, India squandered a flying start to end up with a below-par total.

Sixteen-year-old Shafali Verma took India to 40 for no loss in four overs with a typically aggressive 29 off 15 balls but her fall derailed the innings as the other batters disappointed.

Deepti Sharma made a composed 46-ball 49 in the second half of the innings but the firepower that India needed in the death overs was badly missing.

India were cruising initially with Shafali taking the opposition to the cleaners, hitting five fours and a six.

However, left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen (2/24) snapped two quick wickets, Smriti Mandhana (10 off 11) and Harmanpreet (2 off 5) to reduce India to 47 for three.

Deepti then shared 53 runs with Jemimah Rodrigues (26 off 33) to bring up the 100 in the 16th over.

For Australia, Ellyse Perry (1/15) and Delissa Kimmince (1/24) were the other wicket-takers.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 13,2020

May 13: With the Olympics postponed due to the coronavirus, top Japanese fencer Ryo Miyake has swapped his metal mask and foil for a bike and backpack as a Tokyo UberEats deliveryman.

The 29-year-old, who won silver in the team foil at the 2012 London Olympics and was itching to compete in a home Games, says the job keeps him in shape physically and mentally -- and brings in much-needed cash.

"I started this for two reasons -- to save money for travelling (to future competitions) and to keep myself in physical shape," he told AFP.

"I see how much I am earning on the phone, but the number is not just money for me. It's a score to keep me going."

Japanese media have depicted Miyake as a poor amateur struggling to make ends meet but he himself asked for his three corporate sponsorships to be put on hold -- even if that means living off savings.

Like most of the world's top athletes, he is in limbo as the virus forces competitions to be cancelled and plays havoc with training schedules.

"I don't know when I can resume training or when the next tournament will take place. I don't even know if I can keep up my mental condition or motivation for another year," he said.

"No one knows how the qualification process will go. Pretending everything is OK for the competition is simply irresponsible."

In the meantime, he is happy criss-crossing the vast Japanese capital with bike and smartphone, joining a growing legion of Uber delivery staff in demand during the pandemic.

"When I get orders in the hilly Akasaka, Roppongi (downtown) district, it becomes good training," he smiles.

The unprecedented postponement of the Olympics hit Miyake hard, as he was enjoying a purple patch in his career.

After missing out on the Rio 2016 Olympics, Miyake came 13th in last year's World Fencing Championships -- the highest-ranked Japanese fencer at the competition.

The International Olympics Committee has set the new date for the Olympics on July 23, 2021.

But with no vaccine available for the coronavirus that has killed nearly 300,000 worldwide, even that hangs in the balance.

Miyake said the Japanese fencing team heard about the postponement the day after arriving in the United States for one of the final Olympic qualifying events.

With his diary suddenly free of training and competition, he said he spent the month of April agonising over what to do before hitting on the Uber idea.

"Sports and culture inevitably come second when people have to survive a crisis," he said.

"Is the Olympics really needed in the first place? Then what do I live for if not for the sport? That is what I kept thinking."

However, the new and temporary career delivering food in Tokyo has given the fencer a new drive to succeed.

"The most immediate objective for me is to be able to start training smoothly" once the emergency is lifted, he said.

"I need to be ready physically and financially for the moment. That is my biggest mission now."

But not all athletes may cope mentally with surviving another "nerve-wracking" pre-Olympic year, he said.

"It's like finally getting to the end of a 42-kilometre marathon and then being told you have to keep going."

As a child, Miyake practised his attacks on every wall of his house -- and he said his passion for the sport was what was driving him now.

"I love fencing. I want to be able to travel for matches and compete in the Olympics. That is the only reason I am doing this."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 30,2020

Hamilton, Jan 30: Caught unaware about the Super Over scenario, Rohit Sharma took five minutes to “find” his abdomen guard after the third T20 International against New Zealand had ended in a tie on Wednesday.

The India vice-captain said the team had almost given up with New Zealand going great guns at one point.

“Everything was packed. All my stuff was inside my bag. I had to get it out. It literally took me five minutes to find my abdomen guard because I didn’t know where it was,” Rohit said.

“I mean we never thought it would go to the Super Over, the way they were batting at one point. It looked like they could easily win the game,” he added.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.