India Open Super 750: Kiran George’s stirring fightback the highlight; Satwik-Chirag and PV Sindhu post contrasting wins | Badminton News
As Alex Lanier began to exert his dominance early on in the match against Kiran George, the commentators discussed what makes the French teenager a highly-rated prospect in men’s singles. The imposing physicality is the most obvious, but former Denmark head coach Steen Pedersen mentioned that his biggest strength was there are no evident weaknesses in his game. Among all the young Europeans he has seen, he makes the least errors, he added. At 20-14 in the first game, most of those observations rang true. The lead, and a place in the quarterfinal, were within the 18-year-old’s grasp.But Kiran had other ideas. In what was a stirring fightback, that turned the atmosphere inside the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium electric on Thursday afternoon, he saved six game points and took the opening game on the back of winning eight straight points. From there on, Kiran started controlling the match as he sealed his spot in the quarterfinal with a 22-20 21-13 win in 46 minutes.
It was a day of two comebacks and a cruise for the Indian contingent – Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also had to fight back from a game down to seal their place in the last eight of men’s doubles, whereas PV Sindhu cruised through her second-round match to ensure three quarterfinals for the Indian contingent.
Patience, the key
The headliner of the day was Kiran, undoubtedly. Despite not playing all that poorly, the world No 38 was behind the eight-ball against Lanier, who came into this match after toppling the reigning World Champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn. A combination of Kiran’s solidity and Lanier’s radar starting to misfire meant the Indian could get out of the hole.
“The key for Kiran at that point was that he played a compact game,” coach DK Sen told The Indian Express. “The pace of his gameplay was positive despite the scoreline. It must be said that Alex was also in a hurry to finish the points, he was panicking and suddenly found it hard to keep the shuttle in play. So my message to Kiran was: ‘Take advantage of it, you keep the shuttle inside the lines, he is rushing the points’.”
Kiran had come through another thriller in the opening round when he won the decider against Yushi Tanaka 27-25, but that was a case of avoiding past makes, when he had squandered advantageous positions. Both situations, however, called for an aspect that has sometimes eluded him in the past: patiently constructing rallies.
“I was just taking one point at a time, not thinking about his lead,” Kiran said. “I think that helped me to secure the first set. For sure, fortune also favoured me. I was just being patient, not giving away easy points. I think that’s what changed. I didn’t have anything to lose. I didn’t think about winning or losing. I could play freely. It’s just about hard work, grinding it during practice, being relentless and playing patiently. That’s what I think has changed my game in this tournament.”
In the 2nd game, Kiran started controlling the tempo, nailing his smashes to either flank, as Lanier’s game unraveled. At 11-11, it was a diving defence that won him the point. The next exchange, a smash, brought the crowd to its feet.
Coach Sen put it down to guts. “Even at the end of the first-round match, Kiran showed guts. That for me is a good sign, that under pressure, he is able to play courageously. Mentally, it was impressive. The main thing he has worked on is to play his game above the normal fatigue level. That’s what it comes to in deciders and pressure situations. Physically, most players might have the same level at this point, so it comes down to the mind. He worked on drills specifically to help with that aspect.”
Stern challenge
For Satwik-Chirag, Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi and Hiroki Okamura provided a stern challenge. The Indians started the match well to race into a 17-12 lead, but the Japanese pair started to frustrate the home favourites with their fast and low serves, and not giving them the height to attack the shuttles with. But after dropping the opening game, SatChi regrouped to post a 20-22, 21-14, 21-16 win in 72 minutes, but being stretched to three games in the first two rounds is not quite the ideal start.
“We should have closed out the first game, but made a few makes in the end that cost us a straight-games win but happy to come back,” Chirag said. “They were quite good in their flat exchanges. We made easy errors that we shouldn’t have. I think we were cruising quite comfortably in the first game. It helped that we had some good insights from coach Tan (Kim Her) because he has trained them as well in the past when he was with the Japan team.” Next up for them is a dangerous scratch pair from South Korea, Kan Min Hyuk and Jin Yong.
Another former title winner Sindhu took her time early on to figure out an opponent she was facing for the first time, but once she got the hang of it, she cruised through for large parts, beating Japan’s Manami Suizu 21-15, 21-13. “Overall, my movement and the way my attacks have been working well so far at this tournament,” Sindhu said, adding that the task against Gregoria Mariska Tunjung will be harder because the Indonesian tends to make her opponents work hard in rallies.
Discover the Benefits of Our Subscription!
Stay informed with access to our award-winning journalism.
Avoid misinformation with trusted, accurate reporting.
Make smarter decisions with insights that matter.
Choose your subscription package