Anup Sridhar's dream run in the World Badminton Championships came to a screeching halt as he went down to top seed and defending champion Lin Dan.
MUMBAI:Anup Sridhar’s dream run at the 16th World Badminton Championships came to a grinding halt in the quarterfinals on Friday, the Indian losing in straight games 20-22 9-21 to world No.1 and defending champion Lin Dan of China.
“I am very disappointed,” said Anup, over phone from Kuala Lumpur. “I don’t think I played too badly. I just wasn’t able to match the pace.”
The Indian shuttler, ranked 41, had earlier upset Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat and former All England winner Mohammad Hafiz Hashim in successive matches. But Lin, who had also beaten him in straight games in the Asian Games in Doha last December, proved to be a tough nut. It was to Anup’s credit that he matched Lin shot for shot in the opening game and even held game point (at 20-19). The fact that he couldn’t convert it and let the Chinese in sums up the rest of the match.
“The first game made the difference. I could have won that game. It (the game point) was a good rally and he played a really good point,” said Anup. Lin came back to win the game, then raced to a 7-1 lead in the second and Anup simply gave in.
“In the second game I had no chance. I just wasn’t able to pick up the pace,” said Anup. “It was also because of the fatigue.” But the 24-year-old was satisfied by his overall performance.
“I just put in my best in the tournament. And this performance has come in at a good time, ahead of the Indian Open next month,” summed up Anup. There were others who were also impressed by Anup’s performance in badminton’s flagship tournament.
“Obviously, he played well in the first game. But he could have done better in the second,” said the legendary Prakash Padukone, himself a semi-finalist in this event in 1981. Assessing Anup’s performance over the last three days, Prakash said overall it was a good effort.
“The victory against Taufiq (Hidayat) was good but I wouldn’t put Hafeez (Hashim) in the same category,” said Padukone. “Lin is probably the most consistent among all the top players in the world and it was never going to be easy to beat him. Had he (Anup) won the opening game maybe he would have had a chance.” The legend also said this performance would give Anup a lot of confidence and belief that he can beat the best in the world.
“On a scale of 10 I would rate his performance at 8, simply because it is the World Championships, a seven-star tournament,” concluded Padukone.
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