INDIA
WINS TWO AND LOSES THREE IN ITS OPEN
In one of its better performances at
its Open Championships, Indian players entered the finals in all five
disciplines. But they fell short when it mattered most and had to content with
just two titles, coming through Saina Nehwal and the Doubles pairing of Jawla
& Dipu.
With most of the world’s leading
players opting out of this Gold Series which carried a total prize money of
US150,000, prime attention was on the home darling Saina Nehwal. Ranked 6th
in the world, the highest ranking non-Chinese player, Saina was depended upon
to deliver the gold against Malaysia’s Wong Mew Choo, ranked a lowly 22nd
in Badminton World Federation. And she did but only after a laboured three-game
match.
Saina who had not played competitive badminton the
last two months said, “I was nervous at the start and committed too many
errors. But it was good winning a home tournament and it was also a good
preparation for the Singapore and the Indonesia Super Series that I will be
taking part in.” Saina who beat Mew Choo in the Sunday afternoon final will be
playing the Malaysian girl in the first round in the Singapore Open.
The Dipu/Jwala mixed pairing was
also expected to deliver the gold, considering that they will be playing
Singaporeans Yao Lei & Trivachat. In BWF rankings, the Indians were 11th
while the Singapore pair was ranked 82nd in the world.
But on court in the final of the
ladies Mixed Doubles, those ranking became a no-entity. The Indian pair was
pushed to the brim in the first two games 23-21, 20-22 before they stamped
their authority with a 21-7 win in the rubber.
Indonesia’s young Yunus Alamsyah was
the revelation of the tournament when he beat the 7th seeded Gurusaidutt
in straight games 13 & 18 in the final. Earlier in the semi-finals, Yunus
eliminated the top seeded Indian Chetan Anand in straight games. The Indonesian
who did not enjoy seeding at the Indian Open in ranked 125 by BWF while Guru is
66 and Chetan is at 19.
Singapore’s Yao Lei who missed the
gold in the Mixed event made up with a brilliant performance in the ladies
Doubles with Mulia Sari to deprive Jwala her second gold with an exciting
21-11, 9-21, 21-15 scoreline.
The Men Doubles as expected went to
the Malaysian pairing of Fairuzizuan/Zakry, the top seeds who had a reasonably
comfortable 21-12, 22-20 win over Kumat
& Thomas.
From 2011, the Indian Open will be
elevated to Super Series status with prize monies in excess of US250,000.
THE
RESULTS OF THE INDIAN OPEN
MEN SINGLES Yunus Alamsyah (INA) beat RMV Gurusaidutt (IND) 21-13,
21-18
LADIES SINGLES Saina Nehwal (IND) beat Wong Mew Choo (MAS) 20-22,
21-14, 21-12
MEN DOUBLES Fairuzizuan/Zakry (MAS) beat Kumat/Thomas (IND)
21-12, 22-20
LADIES DOUBLES Yao Lei/Mulia
Sari (SIN) beat Ponnappa/Jawla (IND) 21-11, 9-21, 21-15
MIXED DOUBLES Jawla/Diju (IND) beat Yao
Lei/Trivachart (SIN)
23-21, 20-22, 21-7