Thailand Open badminton: Five round-of-16 matches, five defeats in straight games as India's campaign ends
India's best bet of a deeper run in Bangkok always appeared to rest on Treesa-Gayatri – especially after frustrating defeats for Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat in the opening round of men's singles – but their comeback to the tour after an injury layoff was cut short as well. They went down 20-22, 14-21 to Japan's Rui Hirokami and Sayaka Hobara. While they have been India's most consistent shuttlers in the recent past, the sight of Gayatri playing with a huge strapping to support her back – she had used something similar earlier as well, including the Syed Modi Super 300 in Lucknow that they won last year – is another sign that they are not yet operating at 100% of their capacity. The opener was a tight affair, the only game that actually went the distance on the day, but after saving a game point at 19-20, the Indians couldn't create an opening of their own. The match had plenty of long rallies as one would expect from women's doubles, but Treesa-Gayatri were hampered by the fact that they couldn't enforce winners to get out of defensive positions.
In women's singles, Unnati Hooda, Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap were all up against local favourites, with Thailand boasting of four seeds among the eight. Top seed and world No 6 Pornpawee Chochuwong faced some resistance from 17-year-old Unnati, who recovered after a nightmare start to be down 5-15. The Indian teenager, who was enjoying a good run of results after her semifinal run at the Taipei Open Super 300 last week and a thrilling three-game in the opening round here, bounced back to win nine out of the next 12 points to make it 14-18 but Chochuwong held on to the lead to take Game 1. Unnati didn't let Chochuwong get away too far in the second toom, trailing 8-11 at the interval but the Thai shuttler won 21-14, 21-11 in 39 minutes.
India's No 2 Malvika Bansod, now up to No 23 in the world, would have hoped for a better showing against former world champion Ratchanok Intanon, who is now on the other side of 30 and not the force she once was. But it was the veteran who hit the ground running to open up a 13-2 lead in the opening game and from that point on it looked like a hurdle that Malvika wouldn't cross, as she lost 16-21, 12-21 in 44 minutes.
The most one-sided defeat was Aakarshi Kashyap's who was outplayed by maverick leftie Supanida Katethong in 9-21, 14-21 thrashing that lasted just 34 minutes. In men's singles, Tharun Mannepalli went down against second-seeded Dane Anders Antonsen, losing 14-21, 16-21 in 42 minutes.
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