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Long & short of PV Sindhu's tale

Mammoth rallies, over-reliance on smashes are causing Indian shuttler to lose crunch games in big tournaments

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India’s PV Sindhu is poised for a smash during her loss to against Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in Saturday’s All England semifinal
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Saturday's All England women's singles semifinal between world No. 3 PV Sindhu and No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan could have been the Indian's. The 22-year-old Sindhu could have been playing the world No. 1 Tai Tzu-Ying of Chinese Taipei in Sunday's final.

But, it wasn't to be.

Sindhu went down yet again to a Japanese in the later stages of a tournament in three hard-fought games. The scoreline in Saturday's 1 hour and 20-minute semifinal of 19-21 21-19 21-18 in Yamaguchi's favour could have gone the other way.

But, the tournament set on Sindhu prematurely to yet another shuttler from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Sindhu was three points away from entering the final at 18-17 but at 18-all, an unsuccessful challenge by the Indian followed by a Yamaguchi smash ensured it was all over even before the tiring Sindhu could make an attempt to fight till the end.

Those three consecutive points won in no time by Yamaguchi, perhaps, showed the Japanese's superior stamina levels to Sindhu's.

It was to the same Yamaguchi that Sindhu lost in three games in the BWF Superseries Finals in Dubai last December.

Though Sindhu's fitness could not be doubted, the Hyderabad girl will need to work not only on her stamina but also on adding variety to her shots from the back of the court.

Having played three gruelling games on three successive days before Saturday's semifinals, Sindhu has been on the court for 3 hours and 26 minutes as against Yamaguchi's two hours and seven minutes in her first three rounds.

But the professional that today's shuttlers are, and the support staff they carry, Sindhu must have had adequate recovery and rest in between.

Where Yamaguchi scored better than Sindhu was in her retrieves. Using her 156 cm height to the advantage and running around to cover the court better than Sindhu, who is 23 cms taller, Yamaguchi's net plays caught Sindhu short.

Former Olympian and chief national coach U Vimal Kumar observed that Sindhu "could return drops better with her long reach".

He told DNA from Bengaluru on Sunday: "Sindhu relies on big, hard smash, and it is not always that you will get it. You need to use the height and clip the shuttle down and then mix with smashes. That way, the game becomes more effective."

Vimal, who has until late last year personally coached Saina Nehwal at his Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, said that Sindhu could cut down long rallies with her height and not give the opponent the chance to run away with the game.

Long rallies have become the hallmark of Sindhu's matches of late, especially in the closing stages of major tournaments.

Saturday was no different and it saw two 44-shot rallies and one 51-shot rally that tested the shuttler's fitness. Incidentally, all these three long rallies were won by the 20-year-old Japanese.

Former Olympian and multiple times national champion Aparna Popat felt that playing long matches right through the tournament could have had an adverse effect on Sindhu on Saturday.

"The long matches have been happening very often with Sindhu, especially in the fag of the tournament. That she has been losing close matches is not a pleasant situation to be in, and perhaps that has been working on her mind. She needs to put in extra effort to come out of that state of mind," Aparna said.

"We thought she came out of that mental block against Japanese when she beat Nozomi Okuhara in three games in Korea Open last year but Saturday's result brought back the doubt.

"It was a match that Sindhu could have finished in straight games. She was tiring towards the end of the third game and Yamaguchi played the final points brilliantly to clinch the deal. It was a sad result for Sindhu and India."

On the semifinal, Vimal said: "It was a close match. Towards the end, Sindhu could have shown more variety from the back of the court. She became predictable with her big chop or play back of the court with no drop or half smashes.

"The Japanese are generally good retrievers. The more pace you give, they continuously retrieve. Sindhu could have mixed it up a little more from back of the court. She should not give away. When in commanding position, she tends to make easy errors and gives away points. She needs to be a little more tight," he added.

Asked if fitness was an issue with Sindhu as she has played three three-game matches on consecutive days before the semifinal, the former national champion said: "I don't agree Sindhu was unfit. Both players played tremendous rallies. It is tiredness also after playing back-to-back three-setters back-to-back. You go out of breath.

"Compared to men's singles this All England, women's singles were fought with intent. It was much better to watch women singles than the men singles. In fact, in men singles, players are not able to play constructive rallies and they make atrocious mistakes. I did not find any player in men's singles category impressive this All England and what they have displayed is mediocre and without class," Vimal added.

SINDHU'S EPIC CLASHES IN RECENT TIMES:

  • Lost to Akane Yamaguchi (JPN) 21-19 19-21 18-21 in 1hr 20 min in final of All England Championships, Birmingham, March 2018
     
  • Lost to Beiwen Zhang (USA) 18-21 21-11 20-22 in 1hr 09 min in final of India Open Superseries, New Delhi, February 2018
     
  • Lost to Akane Yamaguchi (JPN) 21-15 12-21 19-21 in 1hr 34 min in final of BWF World Superseries Finals, Dubai, December 2017
     
  • Beat Nozomi Okuhara (JPN) 22-20 11-21 21-18 in 1 hr 23 minutes in Korea Open Superseries final, Seoul, September 2017
     
  • Lost to Nozomi Okuhara 19-21 22-20 20-22 in 1hr 50 min in final of BWF World Championships, Glasgow, August 2017
     
  • Beat Sun Yu (CHN) 21-11 17-21 21-11 in 1 hr 09 min in final of China Open Superseries Premier, Fuzhou, November 2016
     
  • Lost to Carolina Marin 21-19 12-21 15-21 in 1 hr and 23 minutes in final Olympic Games, Rio, August 2016

DID YOU KNOW?

PV Sindhu has been on court at All England Championships 2018 for 4 hours and 46 minutes on four consecutive days, playing three-game matches on all of those days

N ZONE

237
No. of points PV Sindhu has won in the All England Championships 2018 from first round to semifinal. She conceded 219 to her opponents in them

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