Despite Saina, Sindhu heroics, India falter in thriller

PV Sindhu

India’s teenage national champion PV Sindhu pulled off probably her young career’s biggest win, but India still fell short by a whisker against Malaysia in their Uber Cup Asian Zone preliminary tie at Macau on Tuesday.

With India and Malaysia at one-all in their best-of-five match tie, Sindhu overcame a first set deficit to beat the world No.96 16-21 21-13 21-9 in 41 minutes. It was a creditable victory under pressure for a youngster playing at this level for the first time. Sindhu’s performance would have enthused followers of Indian badminton, for it means that the country now has a solid second singles player behind Saina Nehwal.

Saina had earlier put the Indians 1-0 ahead with a clinical display against Tee Jing Yee. The 21-17 21-16 result was achieved in just over half-an-hour, and set the stage for the world championship bronze medalists Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa.

However, the Indian pair disappointed against Wong Pei Ty/ Chin Eei Hui. The former world No.1 Malaysian pair, who are finding their way back after injury, routed the Indians 21-12 21-16 to put the Malaysians on even terms.

After Sindhu’s victory, the young and inexperienced pair of Prajakta Sawant/ Pradnya Gadre took on Vivian Hoo/ Liu Ying Goh. Despite fighting hard and staying level for much of the match, they couldn’t match their superior opponents and were beaten 21-17 21-17.

It was down to the last rubber, between former national champion Sayali Gokhale and Li Lian Yang. Gokhale won the first game but Lian equalized. The third set saw dramatic shifts in fortune. Gokhale seemed to be routing Lian as she took a 11-2 and 14-8 lead, but stuttered under the pressure as the Malaysian fought her way back. The Malaysian took an incredible nine points in a row to go ahead 17-14 and 20-17. Gokhale fought well to save three match points and make it 20-all. However, she could not save the fourth match point and eventually went down in the thriller.