European series tournaments, Feb-March 2020

[sameerph]

Opening this single thread to discuss these tournaments in February-March this year. It starts with Spanish Super 300 and Austrian international challenge this week , a week's break followed by German open super 300, All England super 1000 and in the last week Swiss open super 300.

These are the result for Spain master so far -

At $170K Barcelona Spain Masters 2020, Spain (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300)

[R1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,27) l Daren Liew (MAS,42) 18-21 15-21
[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,25) l Ygor Coelho (BRA,48) 21-9 18-21 12-14 retd.
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,68) d. Christo Popov (RUS,80) 21-14 21-12
[R1] (3) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,12) d. Subhankar Dey (IND,45) 23-21 21-18
[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,30) d. Lucas Claerbout (FRA,79) 21-12 21-9
[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,30) d. Kai Schaefer (GER,77) 21-14 16-21 21-15
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,68) d. (3) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,12) 21-6 21-17

[R1] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,18) d. Yvonne Li (GER,42) 21-16 21-14
[R2] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,18) d. Maria Ulitina (UKR,101) 21-10 21-19

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Krishna Prasad Garaga (IND) l Ben Lane (ENG)/ Sean Vendy (ENG) 21-19 16-21 7-21

[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) d. Lu Chen (CHN)/ Ya Xu (CHN) w/o
[R2] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (3) Gabriela Stoeva (BUL)/ Stefani Stoeva (BUL) 18-21 14-21

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) d. Mathias Christiansen (DEN)/ Alexandra Bøje (DEN) 10-21 21-16 21-17
[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (1) Soon Huat Goh (MAS)/ Shevon Jemie Lai (MAS) 16-21 21-17 11-21

[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,68) vs Thomas Rouxel (FRA,62)
[QF] Sameer Verma (IND,30) vs. TBD

[QF] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,18) vs (3) Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA,15)

So, Srikanth now loses to Ajay Jayram too who is way off his best currently.

[sameerph]

Lots of Indians playing Austrian international challenge too this week.

Lakshya Sen was the top seed in mens singles but shockingly lost to 116th ranked Danish player in 2 close game in a weird scoreline- 18-21 21-7 20-22 in the first round itself. He should really have played the Barcelona masters instead of this. Being a top seed adds a lot of pressure on a player.

I will update the results in this tournament if any of our players go deep in this tournament.

[sameerph]

Only Ajay goes thru to the SF.

At $170K Barcelona Spain Masters 2020, Spain (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300)

[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,68) d. Thomas Rouxel (FRA,62) 21-14 21-15
[QF] Sameer Verma (IND,30) l Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA,32) 21-17 17-21 12-21

[QF] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,18) l (3) Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA,15) 20-22 19-21

Kunlavut is compatriate of Lakshya from juniors who was world #1 and 3 times world junior champion. Lets see how Ajay tackles him.

Next,

[SF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,68) vs Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA,32)

[sameerph]

The Thai teenager proved too strong for Ajay.

At $170K Barcelona Spain Masters 2020, Spain (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300)

[SF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,68) l. Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA,32) 20-22 12-21

Still a good run by Ajay after a long time.

[sameerph]

Only few of our players are playing at All England this week.

These are the first round results -

At Yonex All England Open,Birmingham

[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,24) l Shesar Hiren Rhustavito (INA,17) 0-3
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,10) l Jun Peng Zhao (CHN,36) 12-21 13-21
[R1] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,14) l (3) Long Chen (CHN,5) 14-21 17-21
[R1] Lakshya Sen (IND,29) d. Cheuk Yiu Lee (HKG,18) 17-21 21-8 21-17

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,20) l (3) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,3) 11-21 8-21
[R1] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) d. Beiwen Zhang (USA,14) 21-14 21-17

[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) d. Jenny Moore (ENG)/ Victoria Williams (ENG) 5-4 retd.

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (1) Si Wei Zheng (CHN)/ Ya Qiong Huang (CHN) 13-21 21-11 17-21


Srikanth and Saina got unlucky with the draws and could not overcome their top 5 opponents. Their olympic qualification hopes are begining to get over now. Excellent win by Lakshya Sen over a top 20 players and a good one by Sindhu too.

Next,

[R2] Lakshya Sen (IND,29) vs (2) Viktor Axelsen (DEN,7)

[R2] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) vs Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,12)

[R2] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs (7) Misaki Matsutomo (JPN)/ Ayaka Takahashi (JPN)

[arjun2761]

I wonder if Lakshya Sen is now our best mens singles player. All the others in the top 30 appear to be on the decline....

[sameerph]

Yes, it does seem so. He played a very good match yeterday against former world #1 Axelsen albeit in a loss. Sindhu is the only Indian thru to the QF.

At Yonex All England Open,Birmingham

[R2] Lakshya Sen (IND,29) l (2) Viktor Axelsen (DEN,7) 17-21 18-21

[R2] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) d. Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,12) 21-19 21-15

[R2] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (7) Misaki Matsutomo (JPN)/ Ayaka Takahashi (JPN) 13-21 14-21

Next,

[QF] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) vs (4) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,4)

[sameerph]

Sindhu lost in the Semi final ending our challenge.

[QF] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) l. (4) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,4) 21-12 15-21 13-21

Watched the match and Sindhu was better than her recent matches as you would expect from her in big tournaments. But, after a terrific first game, Okuhara increased her intensity and Sindhu did not have any answer to that.

Sindhu will have to find something extra now if she wants to medal at Tokyo olympics. As of now she is certainly not in the top bracket of our medal hopes as she was a few months back.

[sameerph]

Victor Axelsen went on to win the title which makes Lakshya's fight against him even look better.

That is probably the last bit of live sporting action we will see in a while. Still it is remarkable that they played All England at Birmingham with spectators till today.