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Indian shuttlers made a disappointing start in the Singapore Open Super Series event. PC Thulasi fought valiantly against Indonesia’s world number 14 Lindaweni Fanetri, taking the opening game before losing 23-21, 16-21, 16-21.
The 80th ranked Indian stayed competitive throughout the opening game and showed nerves of steel to bag the first game after it went to deuce. She raised visions of a likely upset with the opening game win, but Fanetri was soon back at her best and did all she needed to stay ahead of her opponent to pocket the second game at 21-16.
The Indonesian maintained her tight grip on the contest, reeling off five consecutive points at one stage to close out the third game at 21-16 to secure her passage to the second round.
Another Indian woman to fall by the wayside was Arundhati Panthawane. The 61st ranked Indian, who made it to the main draw through the qualifying round, lost to Bulgaria’s 26th ranked Petya Nedelcheva 18-21, 18-21 in a contest that lasted 37 minutes.
This was the Bulgarian’s second win over the Indian. Arundhati earlier lost to Nedelcheva in the 2011 Bitburger Open.
In the men’s section, India’s Sourabh Varma went down to Hong Kong’s world number 14 Wing Ki Wong in straight games 17-21, 17-21.
The 42nd ranked Indian had earlier beaten Wong in their previous meeting in the 2012 Swiss Open.
However, India had a mixed bag in mixed doubles.
The Indian pair of Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan got the better of the Thai pair of Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul 21-17, 19-21, 21-12 in the first round.
But there was no good news for Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa as they lost in straight games to third seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia 21-6, 10-21.
It may be pertinent to mention that the Indian shuttlers have dished out eye-catching performances after a modest start to the year.
The country’s shuttlers have reigned supreme in the Yonex Sunrise Indian Open held in their backyard in New Delhi, where India’s 38th ranked Anand Pawar reached the men’s singles semifinals and went down to Japan’s Kenichi Tago in the semifinals.
PV Sindhu also reached the women’s singles semifinals in the same event, where she went down to Thailand’s talented youngster Ratchanok Intanon.
PV Sindhu subsequently scaled a new career high when she won her maiden singles crown – taking the Malaysian Open.
But it was K Srikanth who helped Indian badminton touch a new high when he won his maiden singles crown – bagging the Thailand Open stunning Boonsak Ponsana in front of his home crowd in straight games. In fact, Srikanth did not drop a single game in the entire tournament.
Srikanth’s title win helped him to surge seventeen places in the latest Badminton World Federation rankings and is currently placed 44th.
