Anup's the new king of Indian badminton

Aparna becomes an Indian badminton immortal

Dev S Sukumar

Jamshedpur, 6 February 05:
Bangalore's Anup Sridhar blew away veteran Abhinn Shyam Gupta in less than an hour to be crowned the new National men's singles champion, with a display that was near-perfect in style and execution.

But a similar match-up in the women's singles failed to produce a new champion, as Aparna Popat dismissed young gun Saina Nehwal to set a record of eight consecutive titles. In overall titles, she is equal to Madhumita Bisht, who has eight titles, but spread over nine years. Madhumita's run was interrupted in the second year by Radhika Bose.

The men's doubles as usual was a tense and gritty affair, with favourites Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas emerging victors after a prolonged battle with Jaseel Ismail and V Diju. This is Rupesh's third consecutive men's doubles title. The women's doubles went to Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurien, while the mixed title was won by Markose Bristow and BR Meenakshi. This is Meenakshi's first National Championships title.

But the big story was definitely Anup Sridhar. Anup's talent has always been obvious; the only question was temperament. He had never won a National Championships title in any age category; he has lost to opponents far less talented than himself. He has blown huge leads on many occassions. Could he keep his nerve against the calm Abhinn Shyam Gupta?

His gameplan would be to keep the rallies short; use flicks, drops, taps and drives to keep Abhinn off-balance and off-rhythm. The longer the rally went, the lesser Anup's chances would be.

Abhinn, on the other hand, had to maintain perfect length on his tosses; anything short and the 6' 2" Anup would jump and kill.

Which is what happened. Abhinn just could not get his tosses right -- or rather, Anup didn't allow him to get into that grinding rhythm. At 4-all in the first game emerged a war of attrition; serve changed hands five times, before Anup went ahead with a big smash.

Three more smashes and Anup was up 8-4. Uncharacteristically, even when he won serve, Abhinn was making errors on the first shot. With another big crosscourt jump smash, Anup went up 10-4.

Despite Abhinn's constant requests for shuttle change and breaks for rest, Anup kept up the tempo, smashing belligerently at every opportunity, and controlling the net brilliantly. He outplayed Abhinn at the net, winning the exhanges and jumping for the tap. He finally closed out with a smash to Abhinn's forehand.

At 5-0 in the second game came the rally of the tournament, one that effectively buried Abhinn's hopes. Just a day earlier, Abhinn had rallied similarly against Thomas Kurien. Kurien had three chances for a kill; every time Abhinn -- completely at Kurien's mercy -- jumped left and right to return those big smashes, desperately keeping the shuttle in play and draining all of Kurien's morale.

Much the same happened against Anup. The young contender had Abhinn stranded, smashed for the kill, and yet Abhinn dived from nowhere and returned the shuttle. Not once, but thrice.

But Anup, not disheartened, played close to the lines and the net, and finally forced an error off Abhinn. If confirmation was required of Anup's steel, this was it.

From 6-0 Anup progressed to 8-2. Abhinn rallied back to make it 4-8, and another rally ensued at 9-4, and again Anup showed his nerve to win the rally.

After 11-4, it looked like Abhinn had lost his challenge. Anup motored ahead to 11-4 and then 14-4. Abhinn saved one match point, won another point, but then sent a clear long. Anup just looked around with disbelief as the stadium erupted.

Aparna too good for Saina
For a brief while in both games, Saina seemed capable of halting Aparna's long-drawn domination of Indian badminton. In those moments, Saina was the strong challenger pushing Aparna to the ropes with her powerful hits and speedy legs.

But then, as Aparna proved yet again, there is still some distance between her and the rest. Aparna was too fast, too skillful, too sharp, for the young contender from Hyderabad. Still, for Saina, this was a better performance than the last time, when she lost a game at love to Aparna in the last Nationals, in the semifinal.

The early part of the match seemed evenly balanced, as Saina played aggressively to everything Aparna had to offer. The defending champion was forced into a couple of errors as the challenge drew level at 3-all. But Aparna found her rhythm; she moved the youngster about at will, pinning her to the backcourt and suddenly using the diagonal sharp drop or slice to keep Saina running at a high pace and tiring her. Within moments it was matchpoint, and she won the game without a problem.

In the second, Saina suddenly ran ahead at 4-0, and suddenly an even match seemed possible. But that was the farthest Saina could get. Aparna was simply too accurate and had too many variations for Saina to read her accurately on the day. The second game and eighth title was won duly at 11-4.

Sanave-Rupesh edge out Jaseel-Diju
The most rivetting contest on the day was the men's doubles. Sanave and Rupesh were the favourites, but Chetan Anand and JBS Vidyadhar had taken a game off them in the semis.

After a comfortable first game win at for the top seeds, Jaseel and Diju suddenly caught fire while trailing 6-10. Diju took charge, flying all over the place and smashing powerfully. At 12-all the match became tense; seve changed hands a few times, and the score crawled to 14-all. Jaseel and Diju won the game when Rupesh killed a tap, only to be given a belated "out" call.

Sanave and Rupesh regained momentum in the third, going up 9-4, then again lost initiative and the score levelled at 9-all. At 12-10, Jaseel suddenly fell on the court, complaining of cramps. To his credit, he fought right through the pain, jumping and smashing and prowling the net.

Despite that, Sanave and Rupesh earned matchpoint at 14-10, but Jaseel lunged around to save it. At 14-12 came the fiercest battle. Jaseel and Dju saved match point six times. Finally, on the seventh match point, Jaseel sent a tap out to give Rupesh and Sanave top honours.

Easy for Jwala-Shruti
After that tense semifinal, when Jwala and Shruti warded off an inspired Saina and Aparna Balan, the final was tame stuff. Te top seeds packed too many punches for their young challengers. Jwala's big smashes were rarely returned; their deceptive drops fell in open spaces; and the result was never in doubt.

Earlier, in the first match of the day, BR Meenakshi got her first National Championships title by partnering Markose Bristow against Jaison Xavier and Aparna Balan. This is Bristow's second mixed doubles title.

Results:
Men's Singles: Anup Sridhar bt Abhinn Shyam Gupta 15-4, 15-5.
Women's Singles: Aparna Popat bt Saina Nehwal 11-3, 11-4.
Men's Doubles: Sanave Thomas/ Rupesh Kumar bt V Diju/ Jaseel Ismail 15-12, 14-17, 15-12.
Women's Doubles: Jwala Gutta/ Shruti Kurien bt Krishna Deka Raja/ Oli Deka 15-3, 15-3.
Mixed Doubles: Markose Bristow/ BR Meenakshi bt Jaison Xavier/ Aparna Balan 15-3, 15-2.