Sindhu's silver lining
Hyderabadi's rise on the international stage headlined India's phenomenal show in badminton
PV Sindhu, with an Olympic silver medal, asserted her rise on the international stage and capped a phenomenal year for Indian badminton.
The achievement of the 21-year-old Hyderabadi becomes all the more special considering she was never the favourite at the Rio Games, despite her two World Championships medals.
On the backdrop of a disappointing Indian campaign at the Olympics, Sindhu’s medal was a gleaming reassurance. It documented the significant advance of Indian badminton which had produced an Olympic medal for the second consecutive time.
It also brought into focus the efforts of Pullela Gopichand, who is now the only Indian coach with the distinction of producing two Olympic medallists.
Gopichand was the coach of Sania Nehwal when she won the Olympic bronze in the London Olympics. Saina broke away with him in 2014 to seek the tutelage of Vimal Kumar, and capped a phenomenal 2015. However, injures ravaged Saina’s campaign in 2016. Though she won the Australian Super Superseries, the worst awaited her at the Rio Games.
Saina was considered a medal prospect but she had suffered a knee injury just prior to the Games and it flared up at Rio, ending her campaign at the group stage itself. It required instant surgery and protracted rehab before she slowly made her way back to the courts, showing encouraging signs on the international circuit.
By the time Saina returned in November, a lot had changed. Sindhu gave an impressive introduction of herself at the Olympics. Besides tightening her defence and net play, she was expressive during her matches — punching the air and letting out the war-cries. This aggression was a welcome addition to her game as she motored her way to the final beating a bevy of stars including former World No 1 Wang Yihan and All England champion Nozomi Okuhara. She lost only to Carolina Marin, the World No 1.
Till a year ago, the badminton circles spoke about the rivalry between Saina and Marin. Post Olympics, the talk revolved around Sindhu and Marin. With her silver medal, Sindhu also filled the pages of history books. She became the youngest Indian to win an Olympic medal at 21 and only shuttler to win a silver medal in the Olympics. She continued her form post the Olympics and clinched her maiden Super Series title at the China Open, becoming only the third Indian to do so. Sindhu followed it up with a final appearance at the Hong Kong Open and semifinals in her maiden World Super Series Finals at Dubai. She ended the year with a career-best ranking of No 6.
The Indian women's team continued to impress at the Uber Cup, clinching a bronze medal for the second time in May.
K Srikanth carried the flag for the men’s shuttlers at the Olympics. He began the year by winning the Syed Modi International Championship and put up an admirable fight against Chinese legend Lin Dan to bow out in the quarterfinals at Rio. An ankle injury at the Japan Open, however, cut short his campaign this year. Following Srikanth’s successs a slew of second line of India men shuttlers shone on the international circuit. National champion Sameer Verma made a big splash by beating work No 3 Jan O Jorgensen and reaching the final of the Hong Kong Open Super Series.
H S Prannoy won the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold, Saurabh Verma bagged the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix and finished runner-up at Bitburger Open, B Sai Praneeth won his maiden title at the Canada Grand Prix and Ajay Jayaram made the final of the Dutch Open Grand Prix.
In men’s doubles, the combination of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy clinched the Canada Open and became the first Indian men's pair to qualify for the Olympics. In the women’s doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa qualified for their second Olympic Games. They later parted ways.
Jwala is now forging partnership with Attri in mixed doubles and Ashwini has joined hands in women’s doubles with Sikki Reddy, who also experienced a good run in mixed doubles this year.
Sikki and Pranaav Jerry Chopra won two Grand Prix titles in Brazil and Russia besides finishing runners-up at the Scotland Open.
These results have only bolstered the belief that the Indian shuttlers are now a force in world badminton. The coming years will be an opportunity for them to strike bigger.
The achievement of the 21-year-old Hyderabadi becomes all the more special considering she was never the favourite at the Rio Games, despite her two World Championships medals.
On the backdrop of a disappointing Indian campaign at the Olympics, Sindhu’s medal was a gleaming reassurance. It documented the significant advance of Indian badminton which had produced an Olympic medal for the second consecutive time.
It also brought into focus the efforts of Pullela Gopichand, who is now the only Indian coach with the distinction of producing two Olympic medallists.
Gopichand was the coach of Sania Nehwal when she won the Olympic bronze in the London Olympics. Saina broke away with him in 2014 to seek the tutelage of Vimal Kumar, and capped a phenomenal 2015. However, injures ravaged Saina’s campaign in 2016. Though she won the Australian Super Superseries, the worst awaited her at the Rio Games.
Saina was considered a medal prospect but she had suffered a knee injury just prior to the Games and it flared up at Rio, ending her campaign at the group stage itself. It required instant surgery and protracted rehab before she slowly made her way back to the courts, showing encouraging signs on the international circuit.
By the time Saina returned in November, a lot had changed. Sindhu gave an impressive introduction of herself at the Olympics. Besides tightening her defence and net play, she was expressive during her matches — punching the air and letting out the war-cries. This aggression was a welcome addition to her game as she motored her way to the final beating a bevy of stars including former World No 1 Wang Yihan and All England champion Nozomi Okuhara. She lost only to Carolina Marin, the World No 1.
Till a year ago, the badminton circles spoke about the rivalry between Saina and Marin. Post Olympics, the talk revolved around Sindhu and Marin. With her silver medal, Sindhu also filled the pages of history books. She became the youngest Indian to win an Olympic medal at 21 and only shuttler to win a silver medal in the Olympics. She continued her form post the Olympics and clinched her maiden Super Series title at the China Open, becoming only the third Indian to do so. Sindhu followed it up with a final appearance at the Hong Kong Open and semifinals in her maiden World Super Series Finals at Dubai. She ended the year with a career-best ranking of No 6.
The Indian women's team continued to impress at the Uber Cup, clinching a bronze medal for the second time in May.
K Srikanth carried the flag for the men’s shuttlers at the Olympics. He began the year by winning the Syed Modi International Championship and put up an admirable fight against Chinese legend Lin Dan to bow out in the quarterfinals at Rio. An ankle injury at the Japan Open, however, cut short his campaign this year. Following Srikanth’s successs a slew of second line of India men shuttlers shone on the international circuit. National champion Sameer Verma made a big splash by beating work No 3 Jan O Jorgensen and reaching the final of the Hong Kong Open Super Series.
H S Prannoy won the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold, Saurabh Verma bagged the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix and finished runner-up at Bitburger Open, B Sai Praneeth won his maiden title at the Canada Grand Prix and Ajay Jayaram made the final of the Dutch Open Grand Prix.
In men’s doubles, the combination of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy clinched the Canada Open and became the first Indian men's pair to qualify for the Olympics. In the women’s doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa qualified for their second Olympic Games. They later parted ways.
Jwala is now forging partnership with Attri in mixed doubles and Ashwini has joined hands in women’s doubles with Sikki Reddy, who also experienced a good run in mixed doubles this year.
Sikki and Pranaav Jerry Chopra won two Grand Prix titles in Brazil and Russia besides finishing runners-up at the Scotland Open.
These results have only bolstered the belief that the Indian shuttlers are now a force in world badminton. The coming years will be an opportunity for them to strike bigger.
No comments:
Post a Comment