The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : A cakewalk for Gopi Chand

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 28, 2004

Sport

Sport - Badminton

A cakewalk for Gopi Chand

By V.V. Subrahmanyam

Chansrisukto Soratja of Thailand and Pullela Gopichand of India with the winners' trophy. _ Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD, OCT. 27. It took just 30 minutes for unseeded Pullela Gopi Chand to cap a triumphant return to international circuit with a bang when he demolished the challenge of practice partner and fifth-seeded J.B.S. Vidhyadhar 15-6, 15-1 in the men's singles final of the Indian Oil-Asian Satellite badminton championship that concluded at the Swarnandhra Pradesh Sports Complex indoor stadium here on Wednesday.

Gopi Chand was superior to the opponent in every aspect of the game. He did confess later that he had initial problems in trying to play some strokes against a player who happens to be only the one with whom he trains in the City.

Once Gopi Chand took a convincing 5-1 lead in the first game, there was no looking back.

He was soon playing all his trademark strokes. And, making his job much more easier was the inconsistent display by Vidhyadhar.

If Vidhyadhar's drops shots fetched him a number of points against top-seeded Abhinn Shyam Gupta in the semifinal on Tuesday, today they proved to be too expensive as he failed 14 times with them in the first game. This ultimately decided the issue against him.

Despite getting his famous jumps-smashes in, it was obvious that it was not just Vidhyadhar's evening. Everything went against him. As he himself observed later that he was clearly feeling the pressure of playing in his maiden international final. "I conceded too many negative points. I could have comeback at least in the second game but by that time Gopi slipped into a perfect groove," he said.

In contrast Vidhyadhar was simply off-colour. If one thought he would come back in the second game after losing the first one as he had time to settle down, it was a misplaced notion. For he was just not in the game as Gopi reeled off points literally at will.

The women's singles final in the all-Thailand affair saw the more aggressive second-seeded Chansrisukto Saratja fight back from a 4-8 deficit in the first game to get the better of her teammate Meemek Molthila 11-9, 11-3 in just 25 minutes. Though initially there was very little to separate the two, it soon turned out to be a one-sided show with Saratja dominating the final, particularly in the second game with a near flawless display as her telling forehand smashes and the delectable drops proving to be too decisive.

The results: All finals: (Indians unless stated):

Men's singles: Pullela Gopi Chand bt J.B.S. Vidhyadhar 15-6, 15-1; Doubles: Jaseel P. Ismail & V. Diju bt Rupesh Kumar & Sanave Thomas 15-9, 15-1.

Women's singles: Chansrisukto Saratja (Tha) bt Meemek Milthila (Tha) 11-9, 11-3; Doubles: Mundiastiri Rani & Apriliana Rintan (Ina) bt Chansrisukot Soratja & Meemek Milthila (Tha) 15-4, 15-5.

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