The streak of disappointing performances
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It has been quite some time since India has enjoyed success in singles at the Super 750+ level, and even though the Swiss Open is a much lower-tier tournament, the shuttlers there are still struggling to break through. India’s men’s singles players have had a tough time in Europe, suffering a disappointing series of losses at St Jakobshalle only a week after not finding success at the England.
Highlights
- The trio of Sindhu, Prannoy and Srikanth were eliminated in the second round of the Swiss Open.
- Unfortunately, Sindhu’s loss to Wardani was particularly heartbreaking, ending 15-21, 21-12 and 18-21.
- Satwik-Chirag duo gave solace to the fans on Wednesday by entering the quarters.
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A deserted performance
It’s heartbreaking to see none of their usual fire and spark, even in the national champion Mithun Manjunath, who recently stepped up to the international level. It’s clear Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy are so capable of more and it’s sad to see them struggling. They are quite good in their form but getting success at their respective championship is getting rougher for them.
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Slow Attack: Srikant left behind
At the end of the first set, there was a noticeable shift in momentum that had a detrimental effect on Srikanth’s performance. Despite previously looking like he was managing to make progress with winners for the first 40 minutes, he continued to be beset by a litany of errors. As the second set began, it appeared to be out of his grasp as he largely found himself trailing and was ultimately defeated in two straight sets.
Srikanth began the interval behind 6-11, but he put forth some commanding strokes to narrow the gap to 10-11 versus Lee. The Hong Kong-based badminton player, positioned 19th in rank, marginally ahead of Srikanth, made judicious use of speed and accuracy to storm through points, leading to blunders from his adversary.
There was very little difference in the rankings of the two players as Srikanth is placed 20th in the world rankings and his adversary stands at 19th.The overall downturn in play is “enigmatic”, and the ability to earn consecutive victories has proven difficult. Additionally, consistency in performance over consecutive weeks has been hard to come by for the entire circuit.
– Off Trail
Mithun Manjunath, who was absent from Birmingham, was off to a remarkable start by leading 12-8 in the opener, yet his defensive backhand was unable to confront Chia Hao Lee (World no. 42 of Taiwan).
Consequently, Manjunath succumbed to a 39-minute long defeat of 21-19, 21-10. Lee rapidly accelerated past Manjunath (World no. 46) in the following game, having managed to handle the latter’s restricted resistance in the initial.
On a bleak day, Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty shone brightly as the second-seeded pair put on an impressive performance to outlast the Chinese Taipei’s duo of Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee.
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A Dominatind Display of Action by PV Sindhu
PV Sindhu, two-time Olympic medallist and fourth seed, made a strong beginning to her campaign as titleholder on Wednesday, overcoming Switzerland’s Jenjira Stadelmann in a dominating display, 21-9 and 21-16, during the first round of the women’s singles bracket.
Credit: Google
Credit: Google
Sindhu will contend with Putri Kusuma Wardani, a 20-year-old Indonesian, in her round two match. Wardani recently contributed to Indonesian’s gold medal victory in the 2022 Asia Team Championships. Similarly, the second-seeded men’s pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will challenge the Taiwanese pairing of Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee in the match.
Although the graph is going down, it is true that they will surely come up with a fighting spirit for their upcoming tournaments.
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