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Indian shuttler Maisnam Meiraba endured the pain of losing a contest after having a match point at the Nantes International Challenge 2022 Badminton tournament, which concluded in Rezé, France, on Sunday.
Maisnam Meiraba gave fourth seed Christo Popov a big scare in the men’s singles semi-finals and missed a berth in the final by a whisker.
The unseeded Meiraba squandered a bright start to lose 21-9, 15-21, 20-22 in a marathon match that lasted an hour and 36 minutes. The 19-year-old wasted a match-point in the final game to give local favorite Popov a reprieve and, eventually, the win.
Maisnam Meiraba fails to use flying start against Christo Popov
World No. 111 Maisnam Meiraba had been on song ever since the tournament started on June 23. The Indian teenage sensation recorded a couple of impressive victories to reach the semis.
Maisnam Meiraba created a flutter by knocking out top seed Misha Zilberman of Israel 21-12, 21-17 in the quarter-finals. A trainee at the Bengaluru-based Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA), the teenager needed just 37 minutes to topple the World No. 49 shuttler.
Earlier, Maisnam Meiraba made light work of Chinese Taipei’s Chia Hao Lee, World No. 100, with a clinical 21-14, 21-16 win in the second round.
Against Popov too in the semis, the Indian shuttler launched his campaign on a rousing note. Meiraba hardly took any time to wrap up the first game at 21-9.
The way the semi-final started, it looked like the Indian player would dominate the local hero. However, World No. 58 Popov bounced back in style to level the match by pocketing the second game 21-15.
The third and deciding game was a thrilling affair. Both Meiraba and Popov engaged in long and pulsating rallies in their bid to win points.
The scores were almost equal throughout the game as there was hardly anything to separate the two players.
Meiraba was on the verge of upsetting the French shuttler when he was leading 20-19 in the decider. However, the teenager could not hold his nerves and faltered at the crucial moment.
Popov kept his composure when it mattered most to reel off three successive points to shatter Meiraba's hopes.
The 20-year-old Frenchman, winner of the 2022 Viktor Ukraine Open, has been regarded as one of the most promising men's singles players in Europe.
However, in the final on Sunday, Mads Christophersen of Denmark stunned Popov 21-8, 11-21, 21-14 in 57 minutes.
Meiraba had won the 30th Iran Fajr International Challenge earlier this year. The in-form Manipuri teenager pocketed two titles last year, emerging champion at the Bulgarian International Championship and Latvia International 2021.
Playing in Europe for the last four weeks has helped Maisnam Meiraba, says coach Sagar Chopda
Senior coach at PPBA, Sagar Chopda was very impressed with the way Maisnam Meiraba has been playing lately. Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, Chopda said:
“It was a good performance from Meiraba. He has been in Europe for four weeks now. He played tournaments in Italy and in Denmark, then trained with the Italian team for eight days and traveled to France. He was alone for this tournament, so considering that, he played well. He had a good win against the Chinese Taipei player in the second round.”
Former Indian shuttler Chopda, whose wife and former two-time national champion Sayali Gokhale is also coaching at the PPBA, wants Meiraba to change his style of play to get better results in the future.
“Meiraba has to change his game style. He’s playing very defensively and at this level he’ll find it tough to win matches. He has to start attacking more. Once he develops a better attack, he’ll be difficult to play against because his defense is very good.”
There were a couple of good results in the women’s singles but the rest of the Indian players failed to make a mark in France.
Ashmita Chaliha and Rituparna Das lose in women’s singles quarters
Indian women’s singles players Ashmita Chaliha and Rituparna Das performed well to reach the quarter-finals.
Top seed Wen Chi Hsu of Chinese Taipei downed former national champion Rituparna Das 21-9, 21-18 in 24 minutes.
Fourth seed Ashmita Chaliha also could not cross the quarter-final hurdle. Jenjira Stadelmann of Switzerland overcame a stiff challenge from Ashmita Chaliha 21-14, 17-21, 21-19 in 54 minutes.
Wen Chi Hsu, who got the better of Rituparna, rallied back to defeat India’s fast-rising women’s singles player Tanya Hemanth 6-21, 21-15, 21-6 in the second round.
The World No. 44 required 46 minutes to edge past 18-year-old Bengaluru girl Tanya Hemanth.
