2015 US Open Grand Prix Gold: Round-up of Day 5 results

Day five started on a disappointing note for the Indian shuttlers, as the experienced pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa were knocked out in the semifinals of the Yonex Suffolk County Community College US Open Grand Prix Gold tournament.

B. Sai Praneeth also suffered a one sided defeat to former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei; however there was some respite for the Indian Badminton lovers as the young pair of Manu Attri and B.Sumeeth Reddy caused another upset to enter the Championship match of the tournament.

Let’s take a look at the results of day 3 category wise:

Women’s Doubles

The Indian pair lost their match at the US Open to Japan’s Ayane Kurihara and Naru Shinoya

2011 World Championships bronze medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa lost to the World ranked 39 Japanese pair of Ayane Kurihara and Naru Shinoya by a scoreline of 17-21 11-21.

Gutta and Ponappa, who are ranked 15th in the world were absolutely no match to their lower ranked Japanese opponents as they lost the match in just 38 minutes.Japanese pair started the match on a positive note as they took a strong three points lead in the initial part of the opening game but the 4th seeded Indian pair came back strongly as they levelled the scores to 10 all.

Compared to Jwala, Ashwini was looking much more confident with her powerful smashes and deft net shots but she was struggling a bit with her serves as she made three service errors in the opening game.Leading by 17-16, the young pair from Japan grabbed the next three points in quick succession to seal the game 17-21.

Second game was a completely one sided affair as the Japanese duo dominated the Indians in each and every department.

Men’s Singles

Sai Praneeth lost to World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei

16th seed and World ranked 38th B.Sai Praneeth went down to former World No. 1 Malaysian badminton star Lee Chong Wei in the last four of the tournament. Lee Chong Wei, who is playing his first Open tournament title after serving an eight-month ban over a doping violation bulldozed past the Indian shuttler 21-9 21-17 in 34 minutes, to reach the finals of the men’s singles category.

The 33-year-old player, who is cuurently ranked 180 will now take on the 3rd seed and World ranked 18 Danish shuttler Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in the Championship match. Vittinghus caused a major upset in the second semifinals as he clinched the victory over top seed and No. 7 Chou Tien Chen of Taipei.

Men’s Doubles

Manu Attri and B.Sumeeth Reddy will play the Chinese pair in the finals on Sunday

The only good news for the Indian Badminton lovers came from the men’s doubles section where the young and extremely talented pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy kicked out the 4th seeds Japanese to progress through to the final two of the tournament.

World ranked 26, Attri and Reddy, who defeated the 2nd seeds in the second round caused another upset as they stunned the 4th seeded Japanese pair of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 21-17 21-17 in the semifinals.

Indian pair started aggressively as they opened up to a 8-3 lead in the first game. Fron 9-5 up, Attri and Reddy clinched the next four points in a row to further strecth their advantage. With such a huge lead, they faced absolutely no difficulty in closing the game 21-17.

Second game saw a situation reversal as this time the World ranked 22 Japanese pair took a five point advantage at the mid game interval.But the Indian pair made a remarkable comeback to win 8 out of the next 11 points to back level the scores to 14-14. It was at this point that the Indians shifted their gear to roll the next few points in quick succession to draw the curtains on the challenge of the Japanese pair.

They will now take on the World ranked. 29 Chinese pair of Junhui Li and Yuchen Liu in the summit clash.