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It was a disastrous start from the Indian shuttlers at the Yonex All England Open 2014 as Parupalli Kashyap, K. Srikanth and the mixed doubles team of Tarun Kona/Ashwini Ponappa faltered in their respective opening round matches.
In men’ singles category, World No. 18 and Olympic quarter-finalist Parupalli Kashyap lost a thrilling encounter to the World No. 5 Japanese shuttler Kenichi Tago. Kashyap, who defeated Tago in this tournament a year ago, squandered a one-game advantage and lost 21-14, 19-21, 17-21 in an hour and 15 minutes.
Trailing by 4 points in the initial part of the first game, the 28-year old Indian shuttler made a good comeback and levelled the scores at 7-7. From 12-11, Kashyap won the next five points in a row to take a strong lead of 17-11. This lead proved to be very crucial for the Indian shuttler as he managed to hold on to it till the end and won the game with ease by a score of 21-14.
The second game started on a positive note for both the players as they fought hard for each and every point. Kashyap, who was four game points down at one stage, managed to save three of them, but was unable to save the next one and hence lost the game 19-21.
The third and final game was also going neck to neck at one stage, but from 12-12 Tago reeled of 5 points in quick succession to draw the curtains on the Indian shuttler’s challenge.
In another match in this category, World No. 21 and Thailand Open GP Gold winner K. Srikanth lost 11-21, 15-21 to World No. 15 Kento Momota of Japan in a completely one-sided match.
20-year-old Srikanth, who reached his career high ranking of 20 last month, was absolutely no match for his higher ranked opponent as he completely surrendered in the opening game.
Story was more or less the same in the next game as after 6-6 the Japanese shuttler grabbed the next 8 points in a row to take a healthy lead of 6-14.
After that the Indian ace tried to make a comeback in the match, but his efforts were not good enough as he lost the game 15-21 and hence the match.
There was disappointment in the mixed doubles category too as the World No. 35 pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tarun Kona lost tamely to the World No. 4 Danish pair of Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen.
Pedersen and Nielsen, who won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, defeated the Indian pair 13-21, 16-21 in a match which lasted just 31 minutes.
The results on Wednesday came on the back of an equally disappointing Tuesday where none of the Indian shuttlers who participated in qualifying made it through to the main draw. Notable casualties in qualifying included Anand Pawar in men’s singles and the pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta in the women’s doubles.
