European Series Tournaments March 2022

[sameerph]

Haha. Yes, Laskhya meets world #3 Anders Antonsen in the second round.

Total 10 Indians played in first round of mens singles and 4 went thru to second round- Lakshya, Srikanth on mens side and Sindhu, Saina on womens side.

Lots of Indian pairs played doubles too and only ones thru to second round are Satwik-Chirag in mens doubles and Gayatri-Tresa in womens doubles.

Srikanth played 5th ranked Indonesian Ginting (2-2 hth), Sindhu against 13th ranked Takahashi (4-4 hth), Saina against 2nd ranked Yamaguchi (2-9 hth).

Tough matches for all.

[sameerph]

And the real Sen wins again.

At All England Open Badminton Championships, Birmingham

[R2] Lakshya Sen (IND,11) d. (2) Anders Anetensen (DEN,3) 21-16 21-18

Another brilliant win for Lakhya. Win against world #1 last week and world #3 this week. He looks in superb form.

Saina also put up an excellent fight against world #2 before going down in 3 games.

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,25) l. (2) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2) 14-21 21-17 17-21

4 more matches still to come for us today.

[arjun2761]

Lakshya Sen was the only singles player to make QF.

In doubles, Satwik- Chirag and Jolly-Pullela both made their respective QFs.

[sameerph]

Sindhu lost 17-21 in third game and Srikanth lost 19-21 in third game. Not so much concerned about Sindhu as she tends to get her game up for big events ( although this week was also a big one) but Srikanth now starts to win this matches now that he has apparently gotten out of his slump.

A bit fortunate for young pair of Treesa and Gayatri. They were putting up a good fight against Indonesian olympic champions but one of the Indonesians unfortunately got injured. Great for this pair though who are both only 18. Can they become first real womens doubles pair of substance after Jwala-Ashwini or even better. They have time on their side.

They play second seeded Koreans in QF. Satwik-Chirag play top seeded Indonesian daddys against whom they are 0-10 so far with only 1 game won in those 10 losses. Lakshya against 27th ranked Chinese.

[suresh]

Major major upset. Gayathri Pullela Gopichand, 19, & Treesa Jolly, 18, save two match points to beat World silver medalists & WR 2 Lee So-hee and Shin Seung Chan of S Korea 14-21 22-20 21-15. The world rank 56 pair from India are against all expectations into the All England SF!

[arjun2761]

Wow, stupendous win by Treesa and Gayathri!

Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen has walked-over to the SFs. But Satwik-Chirag continue their futility against the Daddies and lose in 2 close games.

[sameerph]

Satwik-Chirag had 5 game points at 20-15 in first game and then another one later but just could not close out that game . Also fought all the way in second but lost 18-21. They will know what to do to defeat daddies now. 11th straight defeat. Only consolation is that we know they are playing close to the level of these world #1 pair.

Superb win by Gayathri and Treesa over world #2 pair from Korea. They have come out of nowhere to become first Indian doubles pair to reach SF stage at All England. They will be against a Chinese pair in the SF who have beaten 4th and 8th seeds here.

Lakshya will take on defending champion from Malaysia Lee Zee Jia. So, another tough test for Lakshya

[sameerph]

Lakshya wins the first game 21-13 in the All England SF. Superb defensive play by him. Just keeps everything back which frustrated Lee Zia Jee and made him go for more and miss the attacking shots.

[sameerph]

But, Lee Zia Jee comes back strongly to take the second game 21-12. On to the decider.

[sameerph]

And Lakshya Sen is in the finals.

Superb comeback from 4 points deficit late in third game to win 21-19.

First Indian in mens singles final of All England since 21 years.

[Atithee]

Wow, he is the real deal. Well done.

[kaustav]

After Pullela Gopichand in 2001

[Sin Hombre]

Great to see Lakshya stepping up as a clear India #1, but let's see how he does when he is not the underdog.

KS did get to #1 and won multiple super series tournaments.

As for Treesa/Gayathri pair, they came up short in the semis. I saw parts of their match and there was some degree of lack of patience in the longer rallies.

[sameerph]

Nice to see you back Sinhombre. Posting here after a long break I suppose.

Yes, lets us be cautious about Lakshya after Srikanth experience. Lets wait and see but what he has been doing in last 6 months is just amazing. Did not expect him to come up in senior ranks so fast. He started his good performances early last year but was still losing in QF/SF's but since world championships the performance graph has shot up. Reached SF of world championships, than India Open title, Denmark Open runner up and now All England Final. Wins over Loh, Axelsen, Antensen, Ginting and Zee Jie Lee- all top 10 players. Today, he is back up against Axelsen. Not expecting anything. A win will be great.

I too watched womens doubls SF. Looks like Gayatri is the weaker link in this pairing. Tresa Jolly looks very good and her smashes have been as powerful as anyone in womens doubles scence. Gayatri will have to up her game for this pair to really challenge top level pairs on regular basis.

[Atithee]

Yes, nice to see Sin Hombre posting again. Hope all is well with you.

Nice to see you back Sinhombre. Posting here after a long break I suppose.