The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Rohit fails to qualify

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Rohit fails to qualify

S.R. Suryanarayan

PANAJI: Qualifying rounds in any national championship can be a great leveller. It is a mixture of those aspiring to go up the rungs and for those who normally would have earned a direct entry into the main draw but for circumstances beyond their control. Like it was for Haryana’s Rohit Bhakar in the senior National badminton championship here on Saturday.

It is a bit of an irony that this young man, who recently was the recipient of the Arjuna award in the special category (he is speech and hearing impaired) and a bronze medallist in the silent Olympics held in Germany last year, found himself seeking qualification for a slot in the men’s singles main draw. That he went out, losing in the second round, was unexpected but it was from the way the left-hander showed his abilities that demanded attention and subsequent enquiry.

Busy in Germany

The Haryana player was busy in Germany when he missed the State selection. “Otherwise he would have been in the state team and this qualification phase would not have been necessary for him,” said his team-mate from childhood days, Devender.

Rohit has been playing from his under-13 days but never won a national title in the open competition. He is more of a touch-game player and that can be attractive. Ironically it is this ‘touch’ that undid him at the SAG indoor facility where he found the shuttle travel too fast.

Rohit crossed one round but against Karnataka’s Venkatesh Prasad in the next, he stretched and pushed the contest to three games but the ‘touch’ placement let him down with the score 24-23 in the final game. Prasad won got the cheers but the small gathering also applauded Rohit for his grand fight.

Rohit’s stay in Goa is not over yet. He is teaming with another ‘special category’ player Sandeep Dhillon, a top player in his time, in the doubles qualifying phase. May be luck will shine for him there.

Non-stop action

Meanwhile not stop action was the order on the four courts. The eight qualifiers from the 117 entries in the men’s singles will be known only on Sunday and by then each qualifier would have gone through four gruelling rounds. It is two rounds in the other categories.

“Still this ensures that those on the margin get a look-in even as those like Rohit who missed the bus get an opportunity,” said Chief Referee S. Muralidharan, the only international badminton referee in the country.

In keeping with the location of academies in these two states, entries have been heavy from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. A handful of players from Tamil Nadu have entered. But only D. Geoffrey, an MBA student of SRM college, fough his way to second round. Karthikeyan lost early as did R. Mahadevan while Shyam Sundar and Subramani got a first round walk over but were knocked out in the next.

The lone entrant in the women’s qualifying round, Amreen Mubarak did not turn up for her match.

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