Shuttlers shut by Indonesians

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Three 3-setters were all that the Indians could extract out of the Indonesians in the opening tie of the Thomas Cup badminton at Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, where they were put down 4-1 in swatting fashion.The lone point came after Aravind Bhat, playing the second singles, kept his wits against Sony Dwi Kuncoro whose back caved in during his 21-19 9-15 21-19 9-21 0-21 (retired) result.Taufik Hidayat's growing affection for Indians, reciprocated doubly by gaping and multiplying Indian fans since he travels so often for tournaments here, didn't extend to include P Kashyap — his opponent on the day. The former Olympic and world champion dealt a knockout punch, saving his best only for the last and only when it became absolutely essential. He beat the young Indian 14-21 21-19 21-18.Earlier, he let the Indian number 1 (in Chetan Anand's absence) flail his racket and take the lead as he allowed the Hyderabadi to have his say in the first set. The Indonesian ace lost it 21-14 without once taking the lead.Kashyap, fitter and faster, got the better of the smash count and the net-zone in the opening set, and scores stayed level till 17-17 before Taufik showed his classy wrists at the net to get even at 21-19 in the second. This, after he had won the toss and against conventional belief chosen the bad side to start serving. It turned out to be a smart choice, as Taufik had only prepared for the endgame, from where he plotted his return from 11-4 down."He picked 4 or 5 points on the trot at that decisive stage, while I struggled to get even 2 or 3 points," Kashyap said. "But that's what he's good at. I should have attempted the clears more and pushed him to the back-court but I just couldn't."He said, "I knew playing the opener meant I'd run into mostly top-10 players but I learnt from the Taufik match that even if you are trailing by many points, you should only focus on winning the next one. He was always good with the crucial points."Against the formidable Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, India played the split pair of Sanave Thomas and Akshay Dewalkar, who went down 21-11 21-13. And it didn't look that far-fetched when Aravind Bhat made the most of Sony's flared-up back pain which took the wind out of his challenge.Bhat rallied from 9-15 down in the second singles to go into the lead at 19-17 but the Indonesian claimed 4 in a row to take the first set. In the second, Sony looked in obvious discomfort as he fell back from 5-5, and eventually pulled out at 9-15 down to give India a glimmer of hope.V Diju and Rupesh Kumar started well against Indonesia's second pair Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Aprida Gunawan, claiming the first 21-14. But they could not sustain the momentum as they could do little in the following two sets.Anup Sridhar didn't push much, and despite an encouraging scoreline was kept at a safe distance losing 21-8 21-17 in the third singles. "We are pretty sure of the quarterfinals since we should beat Australia tomorrow," Bhat said. He said any margin less than 5-0 would be disappointing against the near-amateurs. "From there, we hope it's either Korea or Denmark, and try to avoid Malaysia and China," he said.Women blank SAThe Indian women, playing their first Uber Cup finals tie against South Africa, won 5-0. While Saina Nehwal beat Kerry-Lee Harrington 21-8 21-8 in 18 minutes, Aditi Mutatkar was even more explosive, routing Stacey Doubell 21-5 21-6.Both doubles pairs and Trupti Murgunde completed the 5-0 decimation — an expected result.Playing the crucial tie on Tuesday against Korea, who would be fresh and rested from their break today, the Indian women would want to assert their growing stature having qualified for the first time. "Their two doubles matches are the known strengths but we shouldn't under-estimate their singles," coach P Gopichand said.

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