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The 2016 edition of the All England Championships in Birmingham concluded on Sunday and India, unlike last year, failed to enter into the final in any of the categories. It was a disappointing outing for most of our shuttlers who failed to raise their games when it mattered the most.Here ar 5 takeaways for India from the All England Championships:
#5 Jwala and Ashwini have a mountain to climb
India’s doubles woes continued at the All England Championships in Birmingham as Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa bowed out in the opening round of the competition and that early elimination has now further made it harder for them to make the cut to Rio 2016.
The pairing will also not compete at the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold, which now means that they will need to be at their very best when they step on to the Siri Fort Complex in Delhi at the end of this month, when India Open Super Series starts.
Jwala and Ashwini remain India’s only genuine doubles contenders and will need to play like that in the next 2 months in order to harbour any hopes of making it to Brazil in August.
#4 The Kidambi Srikanth issue
Kidambi Srikanth remains India's best bet to make the cut for the 2016 Rio Olympics in Men’s Singles and is presently ranked 10th in the world. But it seems as though one can’t sure about the Indian making the cut to Rio 2016 until the end, simply because his lack of consistency.
#3 How much should we look into Sai Praneeth\'s performance?
Indian badminton fans on Thursday morning woke up to the news of Lee Chong Wei suffering an opening round exit from the competition, but on hearing the opponent who defeated the experienced Malaysian left them with an even bigger surprise.
Few would have placed their money on 23-year-old B.Sai Praneeth to defeat his much-fancied opponent, but in a superb display of skill and poise that left everybody stunned, Praneeth beat Lee 24-22 22-20 in straight games to pull off one of the biggest upsets in the competition.
However, in the second round, he couldn't hold his nerve against Hans Vitinghus and after winning the opening game, lost the next two to bow out of the competition.
It was a clear case of hanging in there and fighting it out, but unfortunately, the Dane proved to be a bit too strong and he bowed out in the second round.
An optimistic Indian supporter would say defeating Lee was a great moment while those on the other side of the fence would say he should have taken confidence from that win and kicked on. So, it is a bit difficult to assess his exploits in the competition.
#2 The consistency factor
In order to be one of the best players on the circuit, what anybody needs is to able develop a sense of consistency in their games. It's a facet that keeps most players ahead of their contemporaries even if the difference in their games isn't much.
That word ‘consistency’ has certainly been eluding PV Sindhu, who after a scratchy 2015, began 2016 on an encouraging note, remaining undefeated in the PBL and winning her second Malaysian Open title in January.
But her form started to dip a bit from the same month as she eliminated the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in the quarterfinals, lost to Ruthvika Shivani Gadde in the Gold medal match at the South Asian Games and then reached the quarters again at the German Open.
Much was expected out of her at the All England Championships, but she failed to set the stage ablaze, bowling out in the opening round of the competition. 2013 and 2014 proved to be fruitful years for Sindhu and she came into the limelight courtesy her superb showing at the World Championships.
She would be hoping to strike some form at the Swiss Open and keep her hopes of making the cut to Rio 2016 alive.
#1 Saina Nehwal looked good, but couldnt deliver when it mattered
After a stellar showing last year, when she finished the runners-up, Saina Nehwal couldn't quite deliver a repeat performance this time, faltering in the quarterfinals to Tzu Ying Tai in straight games.
While a staunch critic would accept nothing but a win from her, to be fair to be Saina, she looked agile in every match of hers, coming close to the net as well stretching back to play deep shots.
Barring the match against Tai, Saina clinched both her opening round as well second round match in convincing fashion in straight games and will hope to reach the business end of the competition when she competes at the Swiss Open starting later this week.
