It’s not for nothing that they say rankings are mere numbers. And, Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy proved that at Yonex Sunrise India Open here on Thursday, albeit to different effects.
World No 2 and top seed in women’s fray — Saina — went down to world No 46 Japanese Yui Hashimoto in round two, exactly the stage where she had crashed out in the 2012 edition too, to Korea’s Youn Joo Bae, who was world No 12 then and Saina was No 5.
The only difference between the two losses being that while last time Saina seemed to have surrendered, this time a bad call by the linesman in the third game at 20-17 when Saina was serving for the match seemed to have unnerved her, making her lose 21-13, 12-21, 20-22. Though that alone can not serve as an excuse for another early exit.
Prannoy, meanwhile, is ranked 76 in the world right now, a good 69 spots behind Parupalli Kashyap and 50 behind Taufik Hidayat. To save you the calculations, Kashyap is sitting pretty at No 7 and one time world No 1 Indonesian is at 26 now. But what his much-higher ranked countrymate could not do on Wednesday, Prannoy did on Thursday — beat Taufik.
Kashyap had been trying to accomplish that in seven meetings that he has had with the international star so far. As Prannoy put it, maybe it was his ‘unknown’ entity and hence style of play that Taufik didn’t know much about that worked for him. “He knows how Kashyap plays. He has played him so many times. He would hardly know about me,” he said after beating his childhood hero 26-24, 21-9.
If more than Prannoy’s second-round victory here at Siri Fort Sports Complex, it was that seemingly effortless way in which he achieved it that made all shake their heads in amazement, Saina also invoked somewhat similar reactions of surprise, though in a completely different way.
Everyone was looking forward to end the day’s proceedings on a high note with Saina’s victory. She also added to it by taking the first game 21-13, without even breaking a sweat. But the much-hyped and expected quarterfinal clash between her and 17-year-old PV Sindhu received a big jolt in the second game.
Sindhu had played her part well for that meeting when in the morning session she came back from a game down to beat China’s Sun Yu 19-21, 21-19, 21-15. After having lost the first game, Sindhu failed to give Sun much challenge in the second too and was down 13-18. It was then that her coach Pullela Gopichand asked her “to play aggressively” and that worked. She took five points in a row to make it 18-18. Then each of them took a point and then Sindhu sealed it in her favour 21-19. The third game didn’t try her stamina much and she cruised into the quarters.
“It’s amazing because this is the first time I will be playing against her in a tournament. I hope it will be a good match,” Sindhu had said of the quarters clash with Saina after winning her match.
Saina and luck, however, chose something different.
In the second game, after keeping it competitive for some time, Saina suddenly started making errors to everyone’s shock and Hashimoto capitalised well on them to take the game 21-12.
The decider gave anxious moments to all as the Indian kept going from brilliance to ordinary from point to point. But just when it seemed she had clinched it somehow, luck and the linesman played a crude joke.
Saina had made it 19-17 in her favour with a shot that saw Hashimoto fall flat on court in a bid to make a return. The Olympic bronze-winning Indian then took the next point with an effortless drop point at net. She was serving for the match at 20-17 and after an exchange of few shots; Hashimoto’s return seemed to have failed to make the line, prompting Saina and the stands to break into celebration.
Sadly, the moment was short-lived, leaving her mother, who had been shouting instructions till then to her, also stunned. The linesman chose to call Hashimoto’s effort valid, making it 20-18 and shattering the Indian’s confidence and will.
The Japanese then took three points, Saina hardly making an effort to win it from there. Hashimoto took the game 22-20 to enter the quarters and meet Sindhu.
So much for looking forward to Saina, Sindhu battling it out!