China Open / HK Open / Korea Masters / Syed Modi - Nov 2019

[jaydeep]

In the second game, our pair was leading 18-16 but not able to close it, but still, they r showing improvement in their game.

[jaydeep]

Sourabh qualified for the main-draw with back to back wins ... In the first round, he is facing another qualifier, Brice Leverdez.
Srikanth receives a walkover as WR #1 Momota withdrawn from the tournament.
Sai, Sameer, Kashyap and Prannoy r facing tricky matches against their respective opponents.
This week also, Saina is facing a young Chinese girl, Yan Yan Cai ... Hoping for a different result this week ... Sindhu is facing a Korean girl, Ga Eun Kim.

Satwik and Ashwini started with a comeback win over higher ranked Thai pair, but Pranaav and Sikki lost in straight games against the WR #4 Thai pair.

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2019, Kowloon, Hong Kong China (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[Q1] (4) Sourabh Verma (IND,38) bt Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,39) 21-15 21-19
[Q2] (4) Sourabh Verma (IND,38) bt Lucas Claerbout (FRA,77) 21-19 21-19

[R1] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,13) bt (1) Kento Momota (JPN,1) w/o
[R1] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,38) vs (Q) Brice Leverdez (FRA,34)
[R1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,28) vs Yu Xiang Huang (CHN,29)
[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,25) vs Kenta Nishimoto (JPN,12)
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,10) vs (5) Yu Qi Shi (CHN,7)
[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,16) vs Tzu Wei Wang (TPE,26)

[R1] (8) Saina Nehwal (IND,9) vs Yan Yan Cai (CHN,22)
[R1] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) vs Ga Eun Kim (KOR,19)

[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) vs Takuro Hoki (JPN)/ Yugo Kobayashi (JPN)

[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs Maiken Fruergaard (DEN)/ Sara Thygesen (DEN)

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (3) Dechapol Puavaranukroh (THA)/ Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA) 10-21 18-21
[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Nipitphon Phuangphuapet (THA)/ Savitree Amitrapai (THA) 16-21 21-19 21-17

[Sin Hombre]

This might just be the stroke of luck that Srikanth needs to turn his faltering Olympic hopes around.

He has now the draw of the #1 seed.

[Sin Hombre]

Saina, BSP and Satwik-Chirag all lost in round 1.

All are bad defeats, including Praneeth's loss against an erratic and recovering from injury Shi Yuqi. Satwik-Chirag were a bit lethargic after the interval in game 3.

[jaydeep]

Yes, some poor results as Saina also again lost against Yan Yan Cai.

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2019, Kowloon, Hong Kong China (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[R1] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,38) bt (Q) Brice Leverdez (FRA,34) 21-11 21-15
[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,25) bt Kenta Nishimoto (JPN,12) 21-18 16-21 21-10
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,10) l (5) Yu Qi Shi (CHN,7) 21-11 18-21 12-21
[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,16) l Tzu Wei Wang (TPE,26) 11-21 21-13 8-21

[R1] (8) Saina Nehwal (IND,9) l Yan Yan Cai (CHN,22) 13-21 20-22
[R1] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) bt Ga Eun Kim (KOR,19) 21-15 21-16

[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l Takuro Hoki (JPN)/ Yugo Kobayashi (JPN) 21-17 16-21 17-21

[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l Maiken Fruergaard (DEN)/ Sara Thygesen (DEN) 13-21 12-21

[R2] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,13) vs (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,38)
[R2] Prannoy H. S. (IND,28) vs (6) Jonatan Christie (INA,6)
[R2] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,25) vs (2) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,2)

[R2] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) vs Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA,18)

[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (4) Yuta Watanabe (JPN)/ Arisa Higashino (JPN)

[jaydeep]

Srikanth enters into the quarters and facing Long Chen ... He needed 3 games to beat Sourabh Verma in the second round.
Heartbreaking loss for Kashyap as after dominating the first game he had 3 match points against WR #2 Chou at 20-17 ... But somehow he missed all those and lost the game and then Chou rolled over him ... Prannoy failed to challenge Jonatan Christie in his loss.
A surprise loss of Sindhu against Busanan after 10 consecutive wins ... We can consider this as a bad loss.

Satwik and Ashwini lost in straight games against the 4th seed Japanese pair.

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2019, Kowloon, Hong Kong China (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[R2] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,13) bt (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,38) 21-11 15-21 21-19
[R2] Prannoy H. S. (IND,28) l (6) Jonatan Christie (INA,6) 12-21 19-21
[R2] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,25) l (2) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,2) 21-12 21-23 10-21

[R2] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) l Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA,18) 18-21 21-11 16-21

[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (4) Yuta Watanabe (JPN)/ Arisa Higashino (JPN) 19-21 12-21

[QF] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,13) vs (5) Chen Long (CHN,4)

[jaydeep]

The players r getting injured when Srikanth is around, just joking ... Chen Long retired in the quarters after losing the first game against Srikanth.

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2019, Kowloon, Hong Kong China (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[QF] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,13) bt (5) Chen Long (CHN,4) 21-13 retd.

[sameerph]

Yes, this maybe the stroke of luck he needs to get back into form. He needs a decent draw in semi final too.

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2019, Kowloon, Hong Kong China (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[SF] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,13) vs. Lee Cheuk Yiu (HKG,27)

[arjun2761]

Yes, this maybe the stroke of luck he needs to get back into form. He needs a decent draw in semi final too.

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2019, Kowloon, Hong Kong China (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[SF] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,13) vs. Lee Cheuk Yiu (HKG,27)

He does get a good draw! But, he probably needs that guy to retire as well to progress.

[sameerph]

Opps,I wanted to say he has got a decent draw in the SF but wrote he needs a decent draw in haste.

Hope he takes advantage but this local player seems to do well in this tournament as he reached SF last year too. Also he beat Victor Axelsen in the QF. So, it won't be that easy.

[jaydeep]

Srikanth lost in straight games against a local player Lee ... After losing the first game easily Srikanth took an early lead in the second ... But he failed to win the game, Srikanth had 5 game points from 20-15 which he missed ... He had a couple of more game points at 21-20 and 22-21, again he missed those ... Lee converted his 2nd match point for 2 games win.

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2019, Kowloon, Hong Kong China (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[SF] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,13) l Cheuk Yiu Lee (HKG,27) 9-21 23-25

[sameerph]

Srikanth choked in that match. Missing 5 game points against a player ranked below 25 shows his lack of confidence at this stage.

Looking at his results, till April, he was at least consistently reaching QF in almost every tournament and losing there. But,since late April (Asian badminton championships) he had gone 4-7 before this week and has only 1 win against a top 15 player. His this week's SF run was a bit fortuitous helped by 2 walkovers. Also barely got thru against 38th ranked Sourabh Verma. So, he is playing more like a player ranked between 30-40 right now. Unless he starts beating top 15-20 level player very soon his chances of qualification for Tokyo olympics appear dim. Kashyap has better chances. He is right now ranked 19 in the race to Tokyo rankings

[sameerph]

Only 3 Indian players playing this week in Korea. Others are taking a week's break before Sayed Modi next week.

At $200K Gwangju Korea Masters 2019, Gwangju, South Korea (BWF World Tour Super 300)

[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,20) d. Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,69) 11-8 retd.
[R1] Sourabh Verma (IND,36) l. Donghun Kim (KOR,112) 21-13 12-21 13-21
[R1] (6) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,11) d. Wing Ki Vincent Wong (HKG,37) 21-18 21-17

[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,20) vs Donghun Kim (KOR,112)
[R2] (6) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,11) vs Kanta Tsuneyama (JPN,14)

Now, Srikanth has real test. Can he start beating top 15 players again ?

[Sin Hombre]

He did not.

He will talk about his great semifinal run at the HK open without any self-retrospection instead.

[sameerph]

Yes, Srikanth's olympic chances are fading now.

At $200K Gwangju Korea Masters 2019, Gwangju, South Korea (BWF World Tour Super 300)

[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,20) l. Donghun Kim (KOR,112) 19-21 12-21
[R2] (6) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,11) l. Kanta Tsuneyama (JPN,14) 14-21 19-21

Really do not understand how a player who won 4 superseries titles in 2017 and reached world #1 has fallen off so much and playing more like a 30-40 ranked player now. Also our other mens singles players ( except Sai Praneeth and Kashyap) too have faded away. Gopichand must take responsibility for this and if any foreign coach was needed BAI should have appointed him at least a few months back. Now, I guess it is too late for Tokyo olympics.