Indian Badminton Thread ...

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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

3 Indians ( Kashyap, Sameer Verma and H.S Prannoy) are in the mens singles QF at the US open grand prix gold tournament this week. Also the mens doubles team of Manu Atri and Sumeeth Reddy are in QF. Except for top 3 Indian men ( Srikanth, Sai Praneeth and Ajay Jayaram) and top 2 Indian women ( Sindhu, Saina) who are preparing for world championships rest of the Indian players were playing here but other than those mentioned above none progressed much.

Kashyap had an excellent upset win against top seeded and 18th ranked Korean Lee Hyun II in first round.

These are the QF match-ups -

At 2017 US Open Grand Prix Gold, Anaheim, California

[QF] (5) Sameer Verma (IND,32) vs. Purapalli Kashyap (IND,59)

[QF] (2) H.S. Prannoy (IND,23) vs. Kanta Tsuneyama (JPN,37)

[QF] Manu Attri / Sumeeth Reddy (IND,38) vs. Hiroki Okamura / Masyuki Onedura (JPN,69)
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

3 out of 4 of our players win with only loss coming against a fellow Indian player.

At 2017 US Open Grand Prix Gold, Anaheim, California

[QF] Purapalli Kashyap (IND,59) d. (5) Sameer Verma (IND,32) 21-13 21-16

[QF] (2) H.S. Prannoy (IND,23) d. Kanta Tsuneyama (JPN,37) 10-21 21-15 21-18

[QF] Manu Attri / Sumeeth Reddy (IND,38) d. Hiroki Okamura / Masyuki Onedura (JPN,69) 21-18 22-20

Next,

[SF] Purapalli Kashyap (IND,59) vs. Kwang Hee Heo (KOR,111)
[SF] (2) H.S. Prannoy (IND,23) vs. (15) Tien Minh NGUYEN (VIE,66)

[SF] (3) Manu Attri / Sumeeth Reddy (IND,38) vs. (1) Yang Po Han/ Lu Ching Yao (TPE,16)
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by Varma »

Except for the first game between Kashyap & Sameer, I watched all 3 matches yesterday. I haven't watched much of badminton lately, so please take my comments with a high dose of salt.

Kashyap vs Sameer: Kashyap was way too superior to Sameer, who is more of a defensive player. Even though I am very impressed with how solid Sameer's defense was, I wonder if it can take him far enough in the rankings. On rare occasion when he ventured into attack, his shots were very impressive. Others who might have watched him over a period of time may be better off commenting whether this is his typical style of play, or if it was just today's strategy. Even for an untrained eye like mine, I felt he let go a lot of opportunities where he could have easily attacked better and challenged Kashyap.

Kashyap played decent enough to win the match. He was never seriously threatened, and did pretty well to keep relentless attack to break Sameer's solid defense. I watched the other QF where Kashyap's next opponent Kwang Hee Heo (South Korea) defeated Koki Watanabe (Japan). If Kashyap can play at the level he played today, he stands a very good chance to make it to the finals.

Prannoy vs Tsuneyama: Prannoy started a bit slow and the match was even for the first handful of points before his opponent changed gears and played quite an attacking game. He repeatedly exposed Prannoy's backhand and gathered loads of points. Before Prannoy could even compose himself and regroup, the first game was in the Japanese's kitty already. Prannoy was clearly a lot better in the next 2 games, although he had a bit of trouble closing the match. He was serving for the match at 20-15 when he lost focus. Tsuneyama sensed this and suddenly raised his game to get closer, but Prannoy managed to win it 20-18.

Prannoy has a very good all-round game. He never showed any urgency to finish, and constructs his points very diligently. He may not be lightning fast like Srikanth, but he seemed more of a cerebral player who can switch from defense to offense and vice-versa with ease. He is pretty tall for a badminton player (wiki shows that he is 5'9", but to me he looked at least 6', if not any more taller). His opponent was trying to play a lot of dropshots to throw him off-balance, and was successful for most part. I watched parts of his next opponent's match too. Based on what I saw, Prannoy got to be a clear favorite to win his match and make it to the finals. It will be wonderful to see Kashyap and Prannoy battle it out for the top prize tomorrow.

Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy vs Hiroki Okamura/Masyuki Onedura: Missed the first game as it overlapped with Prannoy's match. However, since both matches were being played a court apart, I was able to catch a glimpse here and there. They did pretty well to beat the young Japanese team (18 year old duo) by raising their game when they had to. However, they made a lot of unforced errors when they shouldn't be. Doubles at the top is brutally fast. To get there, our duo has to improve quite a bit. To win today, they will have to cause an upset. Their opponents are clearly at a higher level.

I won't be able to go there today, but I am hoping all our teams will make it to the finals so that I get another chance to cheer for them.

- Varma
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by Saniapower »

Thanks for the match reports. Yes Prannoy is quite tall & strong. His game is also very impressive. His defense is good. He can construct the points well. He has a good all-round game. Last but not the least he has powerful smashes.
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by rajitghosh »

Yesterday I was reading the early posts in this thread, from 2003 to around 2008. How things have changed. The language of the forum members in those days was filled with frustration. In most tournaments, the question was whether our players can win a round or two. BAI was more of a hindrance. Parallel I am reading Gopichand's biography. He talks about lack of shuttles, lack of sponsorship, lack of good coaches and so many other issues. Then from 2008 as Saina and others start doing well the language changes. Today it is no longer a question of whether our players win a round. Discussion is whether they can win the event. What a transformation thanks to the academy set up by Gopichand that has created a virtual assembly line of champions. I guess setting up of this academy was one of the defining moments of Indian sports. People talk of how the 1983 World Cup win changed cricket forever. Two other sportsmen and related events don't get the same appreciation. One was Gopichand had his academy. The other was Anand winning the world juniors in 987 and becoming a Grandmaster. Suddenly India started producing champions in chess by the dozen. I wish similar defining moments happen in other sports like hockey or football. The sports scenario of this country would change forever.
Today badminton is probably the best run sport in India with 2 world class academies including Prakash's, many international tournaments including a super series, plenty of funding (the PBL is proof of that), quite a few world class stadiums (Delhi, Lucknow, Pune, Mumbai) and good coaches.
Can this be replicated in other sports?
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by Sin Hombre »

Good post Rajit and to answer your question, it needs a few things to happen - an unqualified success at world level to happen to be the trailblazer and create national interest, a sport where we are not genetically disadvantaged at (though a population of a billion plus should still produce outliers), relatively cheap sport to play and not a universal sport.

Those conditions already eliminate a lot of them though we can achieve success at a lot of Olympic sports like gymnastics, rowing etc. Amongst popular sports, I do not see any on the horizon where we can see similar growth.


Going back to badminton, Prannoy and Kashyap set up an all-Indian final though Manu and Sumeeth couldn't beat WR #16 pair and lost 22-20 in the decider.
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by jaydeep »

Thanks Varma for excellent match report ... Kashyap and Prannoy r in the final with a contrasting win.
In the doubles, Manu and Sumeeth lost in the semis against top-seed Taipei pair ... In the final game, they had their chances as they were leading most of the part and had a match point at 20-19.

At $120K Yonex US Open 2017, Anaheim (Grand Prix Gold)

[SF] (2) Prannoy H.S. (IND,23) bt (15) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,66) 21-14 21-19
[SF] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,59) bt Kwang Hee Heo (KOR,111) 15-21 21-15 21-16
[SF] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth B. Reddy (IND) l (1) Ching Yao Lu (TPE)/ Po Han Yang (TPE) 12-21 21-12 20-22

[F] (2) Prannoy H.S. (IND,23) vs Parupalli Kashyap (IND,59)
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by jaydeep »

The first time India has secured four qualifiers in men's singles and women's singles competitions for next month's prestigious World Championship ... In women's singles players r Rituparna Das, Tanvi Lad, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal ... In men's singles players r Sameer Verma, Ajay Jayaram, Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth ... The BWF World Championships will be held in Emirates Arena, Glasgow, from August 21 to 27.
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

Thnaks Verma for the excellent report.
Varma wrote: Sat Jul 22, 2017 9:23 pm Except for the first game between Kashyap & Sameer, I watched all 3 matches yesterday. I haven't watched much of badminton lately, so please take my comments with a high dose of salt.

Kashyap vs Sameer: Kashyap was way too superior to Sameer, who is more of a defensive player. Even though I am very impressed with how solid Sameer's defense was, I wonder if it can take him far enough in the rankings. On rare occasion when he ventured into attack, his shots were very impressive. Others who might have watched him over a period of time may be better off commenting whether this is his typical style of play, or if it was just today's strategy. Even for an untrained eye like mine, I felt he let go a lot of opportunities where he could have easily attacked better and challenged Kashyap.
Sameer Verma was out due to injury and this was his first tournament after a 3 months break. So, that might explain his reluctance to attack. In the earlier matches, I have seem him attack quite well.

Anyway, it is great to see third all Indian final in mens singles in a major tournament this year. We had Sameer Verma-Sai Praneeth in India Grand prix gold final,Srikant-Sai Praneeth in Singapore super series final and now Prannoy-Kashyap in US open GPG final.
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by jaydeep »

Prannoy lifted the title beating compatriot Kashyap in three games ... In the first game, Kashyap was leading 11-9 till break but after wards, Prannoy took control for winning it easily ... In the second game also Kashyap was leading early and this time he kept nerves for winning it, though Prannoy caught with him later in the game ... In the final game, Prannoy was in the control for the start to win it comfortably.

At $120K Yonex US Open 2017, Anaheim (Grand Prix Gold)

Men's Singles Final
(2) Prannoy H.S. (IND,23) bt Parupalli Kashyap (IND,59) 21-15 20-22 21-12
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by rajitghosh »

Prannoy beat Kashyap to win his 3rd Grand Prix Gold title. Hope he breaks into the top-10 soon.
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by arjun2761 »

Nice run by both in the US championship. I believe Prannoy will now move back inside the top 20 while Kashyap's returns to the top 50.
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

Yes, he is a very talented lad and our next big hope in mens singles. To win an international series title at this age is great and he is one of the best players of his age in the world.
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by jaydeep »

As a qualifier, Gurusaidutt clinched the men's singles title at the Bulgarian International Future Series tournament, he was playing an international tournament after almost a year ... It was an ankle injury and subsequent surgery which put Gurusaidutt out of action for longer than he expected as a ligament strain was detected during the surgery ... Currently, he is ranked #962.
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Re: Indian Badminton Thread ...

Post by jaydeep »

Ashwini and Satwik r in the semis as a qualifier in the Dutch GP ... They defeated top-50 ranked local pair in the first round ... In the semis, they r facing 8th seed British pair.

At $65K YONEX Dutch Open 2017, Almere, Netherlands (Grand Prix)

[Q1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Richard Eidestedt (SWE)/ Clara Nistad (SWE) 21-17 21-12

[R1] (Q) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt (7) Robin Tabeling (NED)/ Cheryl Seinen (NED) 21-15 20-22 21-6
[R2] (Q) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Kristoffer Knudsen (DEN)/ Isabella Nielsen (DEN) 21-12 21-18
[QF] (Q) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Scott Evans (IRL)/ Amanda Hogstrom (SWE) 21-18 21-14

[SF] (Q) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (8) Marcus Ellis (ENG)/ Lauren Smith (ENG)
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