The Thomas and Uber Cup venue, Forum Horsens, kept playing Elton John’s Sacrifice on a loop, while the Jutland coastal city, a cultural hub that has hosted Metallica and Madonna, created a constant musical riff around it. Star acts hit high notes and low at Horsens often, and the city knows that it takes all sorts in a band to make the best music.
Lakshya Sen, India’s man under the constant pump playing first singles, lost the Thomas Cup opening match to Victor Lai, 21-18, 19-21, 10-21. But first Satwik-Chirag and then Ayush Shetty settled the nerves, before Hari-Arjun and Kidambi Srikanth wrapped up a 4-1 tie win over Canada, to get India started in a team World Cup, where seniors will usher in and mentor juniors like Ayush and Hariharan Amsakumaran; in what might be Prannoy and Srikanth’s last outing in badminton’s version of the World Cup.
Ayush, who had watched India win the 2022 edition making history, on TV, had played the same opponent, Brian Yang, six weeks back at the Swiss Open. After losing that match, Ayush had felt more alone than he ever had, snapping his racquet into two, and stewing in disappointment that a lonely Tour, while also battling frustrating injuries, can bring on. At the Thomas Cup, though, he had a blanketing presence of coaches and teammates. It showed in how he downed Yang 21-13, 21-17, backing his big smashing game.
The opening set had been smooth. It was pocketed 21-13. But it was in the second that after leading 11-8, Ayush saw the familiar fast-moving figure of Yang jump him with a five-point flurry that saw the Canadian, ranked No 33, revive memories of that Basel afternoon. This time though, Ayush, ranked No 18, stuck it out. He retrieved carefully at the net, after having struck a good length, and stubbed Yang to break free with two well-summoned deep hits.
After Yang went 16-15 ahead, Ayush had his massive jump smash to level scores in what was a mic drop moment. The crosscourt was angled, deep. He went up 17-16, finding the sideline that Yang let fall. Earlier, Ayush had gotten into trouble allowing Yang a sniff at 15-14 after the Indian watched one drop while he was left on the backline. After Ayush took the 18-16 lead, Yang let go, and sent two long, and completed his revenge with a smash on the line to take the second 21-17.
Satwik-Chirag in action. (Badminton photo)
Both of India’s doubles combinations, Satwik-Chirag, as well as Hari’s pairing with MR Arjun, wrapped up two points for India under 30 minutes each and Kidambi Srikanth’s 21-17, 21-12 win over Joshua Nguyen consolidated India’s 4-1 victory. Defeating Jonathan Bing Tsan Lai and Kevin Lee, 21-10, 21-11 in 29 minutes, India’s top doubles pair had parity restored. Later, Hari-Arjun were even more clinical, defeating Alexander Ty-Yakura Nyl 21-7, 21-15 in 27 minutes.
It papered over the Sen loss, that came from a third-set blemish. A flashy, fancy backhand pirouette jump flick from Sen had landed in the net underwhelmingly midway through the first set, though he took it 21-18 using his net drops. However, when Lai, his All England semis opponent, pulled back from 14-18 to 18-19, it was apparent that the compulsive retriever wouldn’t be shrugged off easily.
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Sen once again got into the high work rate – low returns style, where he allows games to drift into deciders. The Indian trailed 2-7 in the second and was 7-12 down around the interval. He did well to level at 12, but was two steps behind as Lai increased his attacking speed, holding on to the lead dearly. Sen scrambled to make it 19-all, but Lai was not to be denied a decider. The Indian was nowhere in the third set, sluggish and dragging his feet, and the Canadian had his revenge after losing at Birmingham.
Sen, though, always comes good on the big occasion and will have his energies fixed on the China tie on 29th. Meanwhile, his team kept India’s challenge buoyant. It’s been India’s soundtrack for a while now.
Uber Cup campaign stutters
PV Sindhu fetched India the opening point against Denmark, defeating Line Christophersen 21-13, 18-21, 21-17. But the youngsters Unnati Hooda, 18, and Tanvi Sharma, 17, showed they still had some way to go, as they melted in the heat of the battle against the hosts and their noisy support.
PV Sindhu in action. (Badminton photo)
Hooda suffered from early nerves, losing the first set 21-12, and by the time she saved four match points against Line Kjaersfeldt, she was leaning far too much on the edge to not tipple over, going down 25-23 in the second. Tanvi’s struggles with her third set fitness and enforced errors continued as she couldn’t raise the former against Amalie Schultz and couldn’t stem the mistakes, losing 21-19, 16-21, 16-21.
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India’s first doubles Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra fought plenty with variety, creativity and interceptions, but could not finish the job against Amalie Kudsz and Mette Werge. Tanisha Crasto and Sindhu benefited from the retirement of Christine Busch, who twisted her knee with the score at 21-19, 14-17.
India take on Ukraine in the Uber Cup on Saturday.
