Malaysia Open 2018: Resurgent Kento Momota thwarts Kidambi Srikanth's charge; Tai Tzu Ying reasserts mastery over PV Sindhu

History will show that, since the introduction of official rankings by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), only two Indians have attained the numero uno position on the charts — one of them for a reasonable period of time, and the other for just one brief, heady week. Saina Nehwal attained the summit for the first time in April 2015, had two brief stints at the top until mid-May, and then spent a prolonged nine-week period between 20 August and 22 October as World No 1. That year was witness to the best and most consistent performance of her illustrious, decade-long career that is now in its eventide. [caption id=“attachment_4236441” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Kidambi Srikanth. Reuters[/caption] Kidambi Srikanth, on the other hand, got to the top slot on 12 April this year on a technicality, because world champion Viktor Axelsen was unable to defend the points he had secured last year in a tournament that was postponed by a couple of months in this year’s crowded schedule. He plummeted to No 5 when the rankings were published on 19 April, and has yet to get anywhere near the No 1 berth again. Currently, Srikanth, who was World No 4 when the Malaysia Open draws were made, and was consequently seeded fourth in the $750,000 World Tour competition, has slid to the seventh spot in the rankings, having been unable to defend some of the points he had gained last year by dint of a fabulous showing of four Superseries titles and one runner-up finish. On Saturday, the Ravulapalem native got an inkling of just how treacherous and slippery the slope to the pinnacle of the standings can be, when his challenge in the men’s singles semi-finals was summarily demolished by a new — nay, rejuvenated — force in international badminton. Unseeded Japanese left-hander Kento Momota took a mere 39 minutes to slash Srikanth’s defence to smithereens, and leave the Indian licking his wounds after a 13-21, 13-21 pummelling. 23-year-old Momota, a former world junior champion, is a quality shuttler, and presently rides on a world ranking of 11. He has all the attributes of a top-five player — speed, stamina, temperament, game awareness, a very solid defence, and, to top it all, the natural deception of a left-hander that can be so much of a nightmare to the right-handed players. Although generally a defensive player who likes playing a game of attrition and let his own staying power weigh in the balance (like his female compatriots Akane Yamaguchi and Nozomi Okuhara, all trained by Korean former world and Olympic doubles champion, Park Joo Bong), he has the ability to switch to sharp aggression, as he showed against Srikanth at the jam-packed Axiata Arena. Momota hit his highest world ranking of No 3 in August 2015, and had already staked his claim to a long-term occupancy slot in the elite top-five club, when he committed the indiscretion of being seen gambling in a casino, against the strict instructions of his country’s badminton association. The Japanese take any breach of discipline seriously, and the then 21-year-old Momota, in April 2016, was handed a comprehensive one-year ban from all competitions. To Momota’s credit, he accepted his punishment with grace, and merely concentrated on keeping himself fit for his return to the fray. In the absence of competition, his BWF world ranking sank below 250, in the same manner as American tennis player Andre Agassi’s standing had dropped from No 1 to No 147 when he temporarily lost interest in tennis and indulged in drugs and the apparently good things in life. However, just as Agassi whipped himself back into shape, and amazingly reclaimed the World No 1 ranking, Momota played the lowly Challenger circuit, and kept winning every tournament to barge back into the top-100 on 19 October last year. He moved into the top-50 on 16 November, the top-20 on 5 April this year, and will almost certainly be sitting on a top-10 slot next week. The Japanese star’s performance this week has included wins over four top-10 players in successive rounds — Indonesia’s scrappy World No 10, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, in three games at 12-21, 21-17, 21-14; the No 2 seed, Son Wan Ho of South Korea at 21-11, 0-1 (retired); No 6 seed, Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei at 21-19, 21-11; and now, the No 4 seed, Srikanth, by a facile 21-13, 21-13 margin. Momota was so much on top of his game against Srikanth, it was hard to imagine that there was a seven-rung ranking gap between the two, with the former comprehensively dominating the rallies against the higher-ranked player. The Japanese initially concentrated on wearing down the Indian with an essentially defensive all-court game, making him scamper all over the court with a crosscourt strokes. And then, after Srikanth could be seen slowing down just a little in his court movements, Momota switched to attack, raining down leaping smashes and steep half-smashes with a left-hander’s natural deceptive felicity. More often than not, the smashes from both flanks to Srikanth’s backhand sideline caught the Indian napping, and trying vainly to get them back. It was a masterclass in tactics, and Srikanth could see that there was a new, implacable force standing in the way of his proposed journey back to the top of the standings. As for the Indian’s compatriot and No 3 seed PV Sindhu, there was no surprise in the mind of the student of the game that her way to the peak of the BWF rankings was barred by top-seeded Tai Tzu Ying . The world’s top-ranked shuttler from Chinese Taipei overcame a brief lapse of concentration in the second game of her semi-final against Sindhu before coasting home 21-15, 19-21, 21-11 in 56 minutes. It was the 24-year-old Tai’s fifth consecutive triumph against Sindhu, who will celebrate her 23rd birthday at the Indonesia Open next week. It was also her ninth win in 12 career meetings with the tall Indian, with her last loss coming at the 2016 Rio Olympics. After Rio, Tai has worked hard on her physical fitness, and has shown a clean pair of heels to all the other players on the international circuit. For Sindhu’s supporters, it was a humbling experience to see the manner in which Tai totally dominated the proceedings. Having expressed the sentiment that she feared Sindhu’s fearsome smash, the Taiwanese ace played such a brilliantly controlled game that the Indian’s aggression was totally bottled up. If Sindhu wished to be aggressive and employ the smash, it had to be either from near the baseline (whence it could be easily parried) or when she was almost hopelessly out of position. Meanwhile, Tai unfurled her exquisite arsenal of shots, dictating the pace and trend of every rally as her hapless antagonist scurried all over the court, just to keep the bird in play. The true extent of Tai’s speed, immaculate footwork and control over her strokes could be gauged from one particular rally in which Sindhu pushed a clear across the court from her own backhand, deep to her rival’s backhand baseline. How Tai, at full stretch to reach that shuttle, and, taking it almost from the baseline corner about three feet above the mat, with her back fully to her rival, rotated her shoulder and produced a backhand crosscourt return that skimmed the tape, and forced an error from Sindhu who was moving towards her own forehand net corner, completely took one’s breath away. The speed, flexibility, footwork and tactical acumen needed to produce such a risky stroke from a near-hopeless position were indicative of the heights to which Tai has taken her game. Sindhu, one can recall, reached her best-ever ranking of No 2 in September last year, and maintained that standing for two months before being overtaken by Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi. If she is to attain her long-cherished ambition of becoming the world’s pre-eminent woman player, she will have to muscle her way past this diminutive (5’ 4”) colossus. Or, should we say, the contemporary game’s feistiest diva?