JAKARTA: The relationship between India’s badminton players and Asian Games: still a better love story than Twilight. They have started winning Olympic and Worlds medals, but when it comes to playing Asia’s best in their own backyard, they stumble like a nonagenarian on a chilly morning. That proved to be the case in India’s quarterfinals on Monday as well. Japan, seeded first, beat the women’s team 3-1, a scoreline made to look worse because of India’s bizarre team selection.
Indonesia, a couple of hours later, repeated the same against men. The ironic thing in all of this was PV Sindhu setting the ball rolling in fine fashion. A 21-18, 21- 19 win handed the women’s side a 1-0 lead. But India threw that away by playing two experimental doubles teams against players who had either reached Worlds finals or won Olympic gold. The decision to field one scratch side (Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil) and follow that up with a gamble (Sindhu and Ashwini Ponnappa) backfired. Ponnappa wasn’t happy with what transpired, both on and off the court. “We need to have more options in doubles. We don’t have a big pool like other countries.
We had to make do and Sindhu was one of the best options.” She also rubbed salt on an old wound without naming the current national coach. “Since Rio, I have left the decision of who I will partner to the coach (Pullela Gopichand). When you decide to part ways with your partner, it’s always nasty at the end. For instance, in mixed doubles, I have had three partners since 2016. “K Nandagopal (two tournaments), Sumeeth Reddy and now Satwik (Rankireddy).
If these were my decisions, then it wouldn’t have been so easy to change partners. I would have coaxed them into playing with me. Now, there are no emotions attached to partnerships. It depends on what the coach sees best for the team.” While she was happy to have paired up with Sindhu, she turned cryptic when asked if she had a partner in mind. “That’s something I would not like to comment on. I am happy to follow the decision taken by the coach.”
The men’s team too suffered. World No 8 Kidambi Srikanth sleep-walked through the opening rubber and promptly lost to Anthony Ginting, ranked four rungs below. His error count increased like an out-of-control SUV after an even first two games, and Ginting did not need a second invitation in front of fans who were shouting like hardcore metal-heads at a rock concert. It wasn’t as raucous as “Lillee, Lillee, Lillee... kill, kill, kill”, but chants of “finish them” echoed every few seconds through GBK Istora during the men’s match. The doubles pairings of Marcus Fernaldi-Kevin Sanjaya and Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian were only too happy to oblige after HS Prannoy quietened the crowd. That proved to be a brief bit of respite. India have until Thursday to try and restart their system. Results (Team quarters): Men: India 1-3
Indonesia; Women: India 1-3 Japan.