European Super series/Grand prix gold - Oct/Nov 14

[sameerph]

So, only Saina and Kashyap left for us.

At $600K Yonex French Open 2014 (Superseries Premier), Paris, France

[QF] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,21) vs (5) Zhengming Wang (CHN,7)
[QF] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs (2) Shixian Wang (CHN,2)

Saina lost to Wang last week itself. So, big challenge for her to turn around that result. Kashayp is 2-1 head to head with Wang and won their last match in Indian open in April.

[prashanthm]

[QF] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,21) l. (5) Zhengming Wang (CHN,7) 15-21 21-13 13-21

Tough loss for Kashyap against a Male Wang in 65 mins.... The match featured some loooooong rallies (including a 2 min rally) and both the players were neck-to-neck..
After losing first game, he came back well to take the second game, but couldn't sustain the momentum and looked tired towards the end due to the looong match...

[prashanthm]

[QF] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) l. (2) Shixian Wang (CHN,2) 19-21 21-19 15-21

Saina squandered a 17-13 lead to lose the first game 19-21...
15-18 in the second game now....
Some inspired play from Saina to make it 18-18...
20-18 with two game points....
one gone, but converted the second game point...
one game all and into the decider......, 47 mins already......

Saina quickly rakes up a 6-1 lead in the decider....., lots of mistakes from Shixian and some aggression from Saina.....
Can she continue with the momentum and maintain the lead?
9-3 now.....
Saina leads 11-5 going into the final interval...... Can she continue to maintain the lead?
15-16 from 15-10....
15-18 now..... lost 8 points in a row..... Unbelievable....
15-20 and 5 match points down....
15-21....

All over in 70 mins, what an anti-climax!!! losing 14 of the last 15 points and the last 11 points in a row from 15-10 up in the decider is unpardonable........

[Tolamu]

Tough loss for Kashyap against a Male Wang in 65 mins....

Curse those WANGs! There are no Wang-busters in Indian Badminton except Sindhu.

[sameerph]

[QF]

All over in 70 mins, what an anti-climax!!! losing 14 of the last 15 points and the last 11 points in a row from 15-10 up in the decider is unpardonable........

How does she lose from that position. Clearly it is something mental against Chinese which she has not been able to sort out even after all those years playing against them. I wonder if she will ever do that in her career.

[Sin Hombre]

She is starting to choke against the one Chinese whom she could beat in her younger days, so I would say no chance.

[sameerph]

This week our second tier players are playing in a grand prix gold event and these are the first round results for men

At $50K Bitburger Badminton Open 2014 (GP Gold), Germany

[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,43) d.Matthias Almer (AUT,129) 21-15 21-14
[R1] (10) Sourabh Varma (IND,36) l.Junwei Liao (CHN,214) 12-21 18-21
[R1] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,32) d. Nick Fransman (NED,105) 21-11 21-19
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,46) l. Petr Koukal (CZE,74) 23-25 21-13 18-21
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,55) d. Patrick Kaemnitz (GER,367) 21-10 22-20

Bad losses for Sourabh and Anand against lower ranked players.

Next,

[R2] (15) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,43) vs. Arnaud Genin (FRA,135)
[R2] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,32) vs Ajay Jayaram (IND,55)

[R1] P. C. Thulasi (IND,41) vs (2) Michelle Li (CAN,15)
[R1] Tanvi Lad (IND,59) vs Sannatasah Saniru (MAS,65)

[sameerph]

These are the Indian players results yesterday -

At $120K Bitburger Badminton Open 2014 (GP Gold), Germany

[R2] (15) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,43) d. Arnaud Genin (FRA,135) w/o
[R2] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,32) d. Ajay Jayaram (IND,55) 21-18 21-17
[R1] P. C. Thulasi (IND,41) l. (2) Michelle Li (CAN,15) 21-14 10-21 15-21
[R1] Tanvi Lad (IND,59) d. Sannatasah Saniru (MAS,65) 21-13 19-21 23-21

[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) l. Andrei Adistia (INA)/ Hendra Aprida Gunawan (INA) 21-8 18-21 22-24
[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) d. Raphael Beck (GER)/ Andreas Heinz (GER) 21-12 21-18
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l. Yuanting Tang (CHN)/ Huang Yaqiong (CHN) 13-21 11-21

[R3] (15) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,43) vs Indra Bagus Ade Chandra (ITA,122)
[R3] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,32) vs (9) Wing Ki Vincent Wong (HKG,34)
[R2] Tanvi Lad (IND,59) vs (4) Sun Yu (CHN,25)

[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs Frederik Colberg (DEN)/ Niclas Nohr (DEN)

[prashanthm]

Today's Results so far...

[R2] Tanvi Lad (IND,56) l. (4) Sun Yu (CHN,31) 17-21 12-21

[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra / Akshay Dewalkar (IND,41) d. Frederik Colberg / Niclas Nohr (DEN,NR) 15-21 22-20 21-12

[R1] Vladimir Ivanov / Ashwini Ponnappa (RUS/IND,176) d. Jelle Maas / Iris Tabeling (NED,98) 23-21 21-12
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar / Pradnya Gadre (IND,99) d. (7) Jacco Arends / Selena Piek (NED,21) 13-21 21-19 21-17
[R1] Manu Attri / Siki Reddy N. (IND,184) l. Longfei Shi / Qianxin Zhong (CHN,NR) 15-21 7-21

Excellent wins for Ashwini/Ivanov and Akshay/Pradnya.....

Ivanov/Ashwini will soon be in Top-100......

[prashanthm]

Today's Results contd...

[R2] Vladimir Ivanov / Ashwini Ponnappa (RUS/IND,176) d. Akshay Dewalkar / Pradnya Gadre (IND,99) 21-13 15-21 21-14

[R3] (15) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,48) l. Indra Bagus Ade Chandra (ITA,124) 21-15 14-21 18-21
[R3] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,32) d. (9) Wing Ki Vincent Wong (HKG,37) 21-19 21-18

Akshay/Pradnya couldn't repeat their form from the morning and lost to Ashwini/Ivanov, who would end up facing the top seeded husband-wife pair of Adcocks in the QF....

[sameerph]

These are the match-ups for the day for us -

[R2] Vladimir Ivanov (RUS)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND)

[QF] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,32) vs Emil Holst (DEN,57)

[QF] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs (6) Yilv Wang (CHN)/ Wen Zhang (CHN)

[sameerph]

Prannoy wins in a 3 game long thriller in a 1 hour 17 mins. match.

[QF] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,32) d. Emil Holst (DEN,57) 21-14 19-21 30-28

Next,

[SF] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,32) vs. (11) Scott Evans (IRE,35)

[prashanthm]

These are the match-ups for the day for us -

[R2] Vladimir Ivanov (RUS)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND)

Sameer, this match was completed yesterday evening and I have posted the result as well.......

Ashwini/Ivanov lost to the top seeded pair of Adcocks today after running them close in the first game and were leading 19-16 at one point of time.....

[QF] Vladimir Ivanov / Ashwini Ponnappa (RUS/IND,176) l. (1) Chris ADCOCK / Gabrielle ADCOCK (ENG,5) 19-21 9-21

[prashanthm]

[QF] Pranaav Jerry Chopra / Akshay Dewalkar (IND,41) l. (6) Yilv Wang / Wen Zhang (CHN,68) 11-21 11-21

Pranaav/Akshay were no match for the 6th seeded Chinese pair losing in straight games.......

But it is weird how a team ranked 68 is seeded 6th, while Akshay/Pranaav who are ranked in the 40's are unseeded......, Am i missing anything here? Is ranking of the pair not important in determining the seeding?

So, Prannoy is the only Indian still alive in the tournament...

[prashanthm]

[SF] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,32) l. (11) Scott Evans (IRE,35) 16-21 10-21

Pretty one sided loss for Prannoy.... After leading 8-2 in the first game, it was all down-hill for Prannoy......