Indonesia Open 2018: PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy's losses end India's challenge, sum up country's dismal year in sport

Last year, at around this time, things looked very rosy for Indian badminton. Kidambi Srikanth appeared to be at the peak of his powers as he won the Indonesia Open, one of the four Superseries titles that he pocketed in the course of the 2017 badminton season. PV Sindhu, on the back of a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was in line for the 2017 World Championship crown in Glasgow — which she eventually missed by a whisker. HS Prannoy was clawing his way into the top ten, Sai Praneeth was in sparkling form before the Singapore Open, and Saina Nehwal had returned to the circuit after a career-threatening knee injury. [caption id=“attachment_4418173” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] India’s PV Sindhu lost to China’s He Bingjiao in Indonesia Open quarter-final. AFP/File[/caption] A year on, a lot of things have changed for the country’s badminton, and not for better. The decline in the form of Srikanth, and the inconsistency in the performances of Sindhu and Prannoy, could be encapsulated in the results of this year’s $1.25 million Indonesia Open, up to the quarter-final stage. The total eclipse of the Indian challenge in Jakarta is depressing. Srikanth failed to get past his challenging opening round against Japan’s Kento Momota, the latest star on the international circuit. Prannoy opened his Indonesia Open challenge brightly, scoring an impressive victory over five-time former world champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist, Lin Dan, but then came a cropper against a player who has become something of a nemesis for the Kerala-born shuttler — China’s World No 3, Shi Yuqi. The Chinese youngster beat Prannoy twice last year at the Swiss and Japan Opens, both times in straight games. His 39-minute 21-17, 21-18 triumph in this cash-rich tournament gave him an impressive 4-1 lead in their head-to-heads. The sole victory that the Indian has notched over Shi was in their second meeting, at the Happening Hyderabad Badminton Asia team championship in February 2016. Sindhu, seeded third in Jakarta in line with her world ranking, struggled through her first two rounds, with victories against Thailand’s former world junior runner-up, Pornpawee Chochuwong and Japan’s Aya Ohori, but lost to China’s in-form He Bingjiao, seeded five places beneath her. The Chinese southpaw was never troubled by the lanky Hyderabadi, and accelerated away after 10-all in the first game, to win their quarter-final at 21-14, 21-15. With this latest victory, Bingjiao has edged ahead in their 11-match series 6-5, having snapped Sindhu’s winning brace of matches that comprised tough three-game victories at the Korea Open and Dubai Superseries grand finals late last year. It also underlined the Indian’s discomfort against quality left-handers, though she does seem to have gained the measure of former two-time world champion and 2016 Olympic gold medallist, Carolina Marin of Spain. Thus, the none-too-impressive Indian results at this Indonesia Open need to be viewed in the context of the performances of the other key players against whom they have been jousting for the top positions on the ladder. There has been no slacking in Kento Momota’s steady surge towards the peak of the BWF rankings. Ranked 11th at the start of the Malaysia Open last week, he moved on Thursday to the eighth position after barging into the semi-finals from an unseeded spot in the draw. He is scheduled for a semi-final meeting with Malaysia’s resurgent Lee Chong Wei, who scored over the Japanese in the final of the Malaysia Open. On his way to the penultimate reckoning, the Japanese left-hander notched his second victory in successive weeks over erstwhile World No 1 (even if only for a week, 12 to 19 April this year, on a technicality), Kidambi Srikanth, and then took two of the top three Indonesians, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Tommy Sugiarto, in his stride. While the two Indonesians were dispatched without much ado, Momota’s 12-21, 21-14, 21-15 triumph over Srikanth was achieved after considerable strife, and after a fight all the way to the finish line by the Indian, who had failed to wrest more than 13 points in a single game in all three of their immediately preceding meetings. The conclusion is that Srikanth is beginning to bridge the chasm that exists between him and the Japanese, but there is still some way to go, particularly in the area of physical fitness. Momota is tireless, and can play the last five points of a gruelling encounter with as much speed and power as he does at the start of the duel. Prannoy has improved his speed and fitness, but appears just a half-step slower in the longer rallies against a player like Shi Yuqi, who is making a sustained bid for the top position currently occupied by world champion Viktor Axelsen. China must be distinctly pleased to see Shi donning the mantle of his illustrious senior contemporaries, Lin Dan and Chen Long, who both appear to be in definite decline. Sai Praneeth appears a pale shadow of the player who had beaten his fellow-countryman Srikanth for the Singapore Open crown last year. He was simply not in the equation when he faced Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei, whom he has encountered twice in the course of the past two weeks, and lost badly on each occasion. Praneeth could have hardly done better than to watch his sparring partner Prannoy handle the speedy Wang’s challenge in the second round of this competition.